A Pawn of the Gods
by alone on the water
Summary: To be honest, she never wanted to have any sort of power or control over the world. But staying neutral is not that easy, especially when you are a child of the Big Three. As the time to fulfil the Great Prophecy draws near, how can she stay out of trouble? What must she do, to become the Mockingjay? My name is Katniss Everdeen, and this is my story.
1. Chapter 1 Escape to Safety

**Disclaimer: I swear on the River Styx that I do not own anything in this fiction except certain parts of the storyline and maybe a little bit of OC, not much. So, enjoy, and leave reviews please!**

My name is Katniss Everdeen and I am twelve years old.

Up until a few months ago, I was in a normal school, being a normal student, and having normal day-dreams.

Am I a normal kid? Yeah, I guess you could say that.

If I had known that my "normal" life would be so short, I would have treasured my life even more, trust me.

This is just another normal school day like every other, and of course, my daily schedule included Arts, the most painful class ever invented in all of mankind's history.

I am not good at doing any kind of art, and I never have been. Therefore, when the teacher announced the assignment of this lesson was to paint a sunset, I could do little else than to groan in pain and curse under my breath.

"Focus on the shades of the colors shown on the canvas right here, beside the setting sun…"the slow and peaceful voice of our art teacher seemed to drawl a long time, nearly sending me into a slumber as the lecture went on, but my paint brush seemed to have a will of its own as the blank canvas in front of me began to be filled by a random combination of colors, apparently nowhere near the idea of a "sunset".

"What is this that you are drawing…"the teacher walked by my canvas and stopped. He used a long and slender finger to touch my still-wet canvas, and then guffawed like a teenage boy: "I have never seen anything as ugly as this! What is this that you are drawing, Miss Everdeen?"

All the voices in the classroom seemed to fade into nothingness as my internal emotions built up. Yes, I do admit that I have very few friends here at this school, but this, being the laughing stock of everybody in the classroom…was well-beyond anybody's bottom line.

A tear drop fell from my cheeks as I choked back a silent sob. However, the amount of water that followed was a lot more than I had expected.

From the alloy metal faucets to somebody's plastic cup, everything in the room that contained water exploded in a mighty roar, forming a huge and colorful ball of water that towered above everyone's heads, before exploding and drenching everyone in the classroom, except me.

I stood in awe as the only possible explanation to this phenomenon hit me: I was controlling the water.

And probably out of revenge.

This new idea consumed my mind entirely, blocking out everything from the outside world. I seemed to fall into a kind of trance as everything around me happened in slow motion. Then, a rapid force on my arm jerked me back to reality. I looked up, and saw one of the few friends I have in the entire school-Annabeth.

"Katniss, we really need to go now." Her voice was urgent, almost a bit demanding.

I like Annabeth, mostly because she is clever and has answers to everything. From math problems to architectural theories, there is almost nothing that she does not know. Therefore, during the years of being classmates with her, I have learnt to trust her, even in the most doubtful situations.

Like now.

"Mmm…" I uttered something really intelligent, but proceeded to follow her anyways.

We went fleeing through the gates of the school and into the sparse mid-day traffic. And before long, we burst into the living room of Annabeth's apartment.

See, Annabeth lives with her dad and stepmother. Although we don't share the same last name, this family has taken me in as one of their own for as long as I can remember. They are pretty nice people, always reminding me of my full name and insisting that I am special in some ways that I do not even know.

"Oh hello dear, how come you are home so early?" Mr. Chase, Annabeth's dad, looked up from his laptop and smiled at us.

Annabeth quickly summed up what had happened during my outburst and his face darkened. He threw his laptop on the couch in a dramatic and fluid swirl and dragged me and Annabeth into the one of his prized sports car.

"Where are we going?" I asked, seemingly the only oblivious person in the trio.

"Don't worry, Kat. We are taking you to some place that is safe, a place that is specially designed for people like us. We are taking you to Camp Half-blood." Annabeth said.

**Author's Note: Hello Everyone! This is my very first full-sized fanfiction, so please do not hesitate to leave reviews! This is going to be a very long story, so stay with me, and I promise I will make updates regularly! Thanks for your cooperation!**


	2. Chapter 2 The Hidden Bloodline

**Author's Note: Hello everyone! Hope you are enjoying the new chapter so far! Sorry if the chapters are a little choppy, but the short chapters can allow me to make regular updates every other day. Leave a review to tell me what you think and provide ideas for the next chapter!**

"_We are taking you to Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth sounded proud._

And just like that, I arrived at Camp Half-Blood, a group of ancient buildings hidden in the countryside of Long Island. Annabeth lead me to a decent sized cabin marked with a glistening golden "11", and announced that I was the newest camp member.

"Is she confirmed or not?" someone spoke up and snickered.

Another, older kid stepped up. He is about nineteen years old, with a stocky build and short, sandy hair. "Attention people," he said, with an authoritative tone, "this is why we are here." He directed me to an empty spot on the ground and produced a bunch of blankets from seemingly nowhere.

"This is Luke." Annabeth introduced, but almost tripped on her own words, which was very unlike her. I glanced at her, and I could swear that her face has sort of a crimson shade. She caught my gaze, and snapped back into her usual, serious self, "he will be your counselor for the time being."

"Why only for the time being?" I repeated, feeling stupid like always.

"You are still undefined," Luke explained, "they don't know which cabin to put you in, so you are supposed to stay here. Our patron is Hermes, god of the travelers, so that includes everyone who uses a road."

I glanced around at the roomful of people nervously and asked, "How long would I stay here?"

"Excellent question," Luke answered, "Until you are defined."

"How long would it take?"

"Oh, it depends." Luke left with a mysterious smile.

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Just as Luke said, we needed to undergo some kind of test in order to prove out godly parentage. "However, no matter what happens, breakfast is the first thing you have to do during the day," Luke announced. "Cabin eleven, file in!" He yelled.

We walked up the hill, and into the dinning pavilion. The thick, stone columns are surrounded by burning torches, and a bronze fireplace stood at the centre of the room. Every cabin has its own dining table, four of them were empty, but ours was bustling with life. "The four tables belong to Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, and Artemis respectively." Luke caught my questioning gaze and explained.

This place must be the northern part of Long Island, for it is surrounded with glistening pools of water which were connected to the ocean. Further ahead, I could see that this valley was filled with all kinds of ancient-Greek-style buildings-outdoor theatres, running tracks, sparring fields, archery ranges, and many other things. And, according to Luke, the test was to be held in the main arena-a circular, white building. Thinking back to the historical footage that showed ancient people fighting to their death in arenas like this, I shuddered with a slight twinge of fear.

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A piercing horn reminded me that I was the next in line to accept the challenges inside the arena. I pushed the door open and walked in to stand on the square in the middle of the room that said "start" in capital letters. Within seconds, a rather complicated-looking obstacle course appeared from an invisible trap door on the ground and towered in front of me. It had stairs, rope ladders, barbed wires, and a red-hot rock-climbing wall. The finish line of this course had a dark, box-shaped contraption which I assume holds some kind of reward.

But my worst problem lies above my head: an enormous stopwatch was floating in the air in front of me, and during the few seconds that I took to decipher what exactly was happening, the number already changed from 15:00 to 14:59, then 58, 57… I muttered furiously, and ran forward as fast as my legs could carry me.

At first, I was doing a pretty decent job for an inexperienced person who has never done anything like this before in my short and miserable life. I ran up a series of slippery, icy stairs and slopes without face-planting to the ground, maneuvered myself through several constantly vibrating bridges and rope ladders, ducked and hit the ground to avoid getting pulverized by some flying projectiles (probably knives), but hissed in pain as my hands came in contact with the red-hot rock-climbing wall.

As I was standing in front of the wall trying to think of a way to find another way around this thing, the ground gave away beneath my feet. Before I had time to scream, I was greeted by a cold underground river.

Now, the thing is that a fifty-foot fall into some body of water would have left a bruise for those who have not received proper diving training, so I was expecting sore joints when my toes first touched the water.

However, none came. I entered into the water surface with a rather silent _POOF_ and continued to sink due to the momentum. When I saw a fish the size of a life-boat swim past, I gasped in surprise, and then realized that I could breathe under water as well.

When I finally got over the initial shock of how well I could adapt to the life underwater, I remembered the ticking clock, and willed myself to stand up and find a way back to the surface of the ground. A wave rose from the river's surface and formed the shape of a hand. It cradled me in its palm and pushed me upwards, right over the burning wall which had previously troubled me so badly.

I reached the ending point just in time and reached out my hand to the black box, something sharp protruded from the surface and cut through my skin. I winced and applied pressure to the good-sized cut, but some of my blood was still seeping through my fingers. Some of them collected on the surface of the box and formed a small puddle, which then projected a holographic image into the air-it was a sea-green trident, made up with hundreds of little green dots.


	3. Chapter 3 A bit of background

**Author's Note: Hello everyone, I am back! Sorry for the delayed update of this chapter, but I am currently having a rather mild writers' block. However, this symptom has been solved by talking to my friend pjcrazy who has provided a lot of genius ideas to get my story running smoothly. Thanks so much man! **

**Anyway, here is another chapter which I hope is enough to live up to your expectations. Thanks to all those who have been paying attention to my previous two chapters, and I sincerely hope that you can leave reviews, tell me what you think, and tell me how you would like this story to turn out.**

**By the way, I am currently accepting ideas for new pen-names so that I can replace the random series of numbers I have right now. So, leave a review below or PM me to tell me your ideas!**

I stood and stared at the tiny glowing trident in the air, trying to clear my mind out of the screaming mess it was in. It took me a complete three seconds to comprehend the situation. I made myself exhausted by running a weird obstacle course, got my fingers cut, simply to get this weird symbol? What does it even mean? I huffed to myself in frustration, but did not get any further in trying to solve the mysteries surrounding this place.

A few minutes later, a young man wearing an orange Camp-Half Blood T-shirt, whom I suppose is some kind of camp counselor, stepped into the arena, and told me to come with him. We stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three. It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one and two, but long and low and solid, almost too humble compared with its neighbors.

The outer walls were made up of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been forged straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I peeked inside the open doorway and caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk, a frequent getaway for me and the Chase family whenever we are on vacation. The interior walls glowed like abalone, and there were six, empty bunk beds. In all, the place felt all sad and lonely, but the man just simply told me that this was going to be my cabin from now on, and blah, blah, blah, we shouldn't step into other cabins unless absolutely necessary…and finally, he shut the door behind him, leaving me to deal with the sad and loneliness by myself.

I wandered out of my cabin and found Annabeth sitting on the entrance steps of Cabin Six, reading a thick book in Ancient Greek. Do not ask me how, but I just know that the book was about architecture. Not wanting to frighten her, I cleared my throat slightly before sitting down beside her.

"So this is your cabin then?" I asked, trying to bring up a conversation.

"Yeah, Cabin Six." She muttered, barely audible.

"I want to come and live with you." I whined, "Mine is over there, and I am the only person inside it." I stretched out every syllable of my word in order to emphasize my emotions.

Annabeth sighed, closed her book and turned towards me, "You don't just choose a cabin, Kat. It depends on who your parents are, oh, sorry, parent." She put extra stress on the last "t" of the sentence.

"Annie, you have known me long enough to know that I don't have one. They are dead and I never knew what kind of person they were."

"No, they are not dead." Annabeth sighed again, as if she had already had this conversation countless times before, with other new kids like me.

"How can you say that? You know him?"

"Yeah, I heard of his name. Surely everyone knows that the trident represents Poseidon and who Poseidon is. Haven't you been listening in the Greek History classes?" She playfully whacked me upside the head, "Now I know why you seem so stupid from time to time, your brain is full of seaweed."

"Hey, I am a normal, human kid. But you made me sound like some kind of freak from outer space. How can you say that about me?" I pouted and yelled indignantly.

"Because I know who you are. You wouldn't be here if you were not one of us."

"It seems that you don't know me well enough then."

"No?" She quirked an eyebrow, "You were diagnosed with dyslexia, and ADHD."

"That's not fair. You were present when your parents took me to the doctors."

"Well, you did eat some ambrosia during breakfast this morning didn't you? You know, the brown squares that looked like brownies?"Annabeth shook her head and sighed exasperatedly.

"I think so, what's up with that?"

"That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. The fact you are still alive means that you are a half-blood." Annabeth snapped.

"Who is your parent then?" I pointed to the cabin behind us.

"This is the Athena cabin, dedicated to the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy." Annabeth cracked into a proud grin.

In the distance, a horn blew for three short, brisk times. Annabeth suddenly looked very worried, "Katniss, did you report to the big house after your test?"

"No, why would I do that?"

"Oh no," Annabeth face-palmed, "we need to get you to the Big House right now. Mr. D is probably very pissed off already."

"Wait, are you saying that the gods are real then?"

"Oh my gods Katniss, why are you so stubborn…You know what, I will let Mr. D answer your rather ridiculous questions." Annabeth pulled me up from the ground and dragged me towards the "Big House".

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The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels— what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at some drunken person's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy can out-gamble everyone else in the entire world.

"That's Mr. D." Annabeth hissed lowly, "He is the camp director. Be polite and…"

Her words were abruptly interrupted when Mr. D. looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, thanks, I guess." I sat down at one of those offered chairs and said.

"Now, I am sure that you have the basic knowledge of the Greek gods?" Mr. D started very slowly, while his eyes drifted towards Annabeth, as if she is supposed to be my mentor.

"Wait," I shook my head in confusion. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."

"Well, now," Mr. D said. "God—capital G, God, that's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."

"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about—"

"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."

"Smaller?"

"Yes, quite."

"Zeus," I said with sudden enlightenment. "Hera, Apollo, You mean them."

And there it was again—distant thunder on a cloudless day.

"Girl," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."

"But they're stories," I said. "They're—myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."

Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Katniss Everdeen"—I flinched when he slammed his hand on the table and said my full name without even asking me—"what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals—they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They just think that they are already so knowledgeable and powerful…"

He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.

My jaw dropped, but Annabeth hardly even quirked an eyebrow.

"Mr. D," a deep voice warned, "your restrictions."

Mr. D looked at the centaur that was walking into the sunlight and feigned surprise.

He looked at the sky and yelled with dripping sarcasm, "Old habits! Sorry!"

More thunder.

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his…meditation.

The centaur winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."

"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.

"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, the punishment was prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time—well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away—the second time, he sent me here. Right here in Half-Blood Hill. And, I was told to set up a Summer Camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha."

"I am Chiron by the way." The centaur noticed that I was staring at him with interest, therefore reached out his hand and introduced himself. "I am the activities director, so if you need any help just come and ask me ok?"

"And…" I stammered, not willing to give up the previous topic as I turned back towards the middle-aged cherub, "your father is…"

"Di immortales, Annabeth," Mr. D exclaimed in exasperation, "I thought you taught her the basics already. My father is Zeus, of course."

I ran through the list of D names that I remembered from Greek mythology and soon came up with the answer. "You are Dionysus, the god of wine."

"Well, duh! Did you think I was Aphrodite or something?"

"You are a god."

"Yes?" His face crunched a bit as he quirked an eyebrow.

He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.

"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.

"No, no." I trembled slightly.

"No, sir," He stressed the last word, "Now I must be back to Olympus for the emergency meeting. Technically you are not even supposed to be alive. Old Barnacle Beard has broken his oath…so…"he didn't even finish his sentence before his whisked off into the "Mount Olympus" in a shroud of light.

"Well, that was easy for him. Now, he is leaving me the mission to assign you a quest."

"Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet."

Chiron grimaced. "Well, that is the hard part."

Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.

"Poseidon and Zeus," I said as I looked out of the window. "They are fighting over something, right?"

Chiron walked forwards for a few tiny steps, "How did you know that?"

"The weather has been weird since Christmas…"I said, wishing that I did not have such a loud mouth, "and I also have been having these dreams…"

"I knew it, Chiron. It is her quest!" Annabeth jumped up from her seat, "please, let me follow her?"

Chiron waved a dismissive hand, "Hush, child, Katniss deserves to hear more. The thing that was missing is called the Master Bolt. A two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives. It is a symbol of power of Zeus, and it was forged by the Cyclopes for the first Titan War."

"Missing?" I shook my head in confusion.

"It is stolen." Chiron waited a few seconds, before continuing, "By you."

"What the…" My mouth fell open, "How is this possible? I haven't even been to Olympus."

"You can't really put reason into Zeus's head, you know." Annabeth whispered to me.

"But I did not do anything. Poseidon…my dad…he did not really steal it, right?"

"Most reasonable person would think that, yes, but the Sea God is too proud to talk to Zeus at the moment. So, what better peace offering, than to have the daughter of Poseidon return the property?"

"Sure, I will do it." I nodded.

"We will have a special car to send you to the city tomorrow, so get a prophecy from the oracle tonight." Chiron said.


	4. Chapter 4 A Destructive First Day

**Author's Note: Hello everyone, I am back! Sorry for the inconvenience, but I found out that there were several typos of Chapters 2 and 3 so I had to repost it. Technology is really driving people to the edge, eh? Anyway, I would greatly appreciate it if more people turn back for a little second and read the previous chapters before continuing, because I promise that some exciting things is going to happen within the next few chapters as each chapter gets longer and longer. Thank you for your continuous support in my story, and hope you enjoy this new chapter! And more reviews would be nice too, if you guys don't mind.**

**Another important announcement is that I finally have a Beta! Congratulations (and heartfelt thanks) to my good friend pjcrazy who has graciously volunteered for the position! :P**

**(Hi guys)**

**By the way, the arduous quest for a new pen-name continues, I am still accepting your ideas over PM and reviews!**

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_You shall go west, and face the god who has turned._

_You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned._

_You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._

_And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end._

I practically fled for my life by running down the four flights of stairs that led out of the attic, the foul smell of reptiles still clouding my nostrils, making me nauseous. I ran back to my cabin as fast as I could, ignoring the shouts of Chiron and Annabeth, who I had brushed past on my way out. The nightmarish scene replayed itself over and over again in my mind. I will NEVER watch mummy movies again...

When I had first entered the room, the attic was filled with Greek hero junk: battered, dented suits of armor that stand covered in cobwebs littered the floor; once-bright bronze shields pitted with greenish copper rust piled in a corner; severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, along with various other monster parts and the weapons that killed them spread all over the shelves. But that wasn't the worst part… At the far side of the room, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome object that I have ever seen: a mummy, minus the cloth. _"Horror movie directors are so going to love this."_ A random thought brushed through my mind but quickly dissipated. It was a human female body, with a skin shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, several beaded necklaces, and a headband. The eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes have been replaced by marbles. I suppressed a shudder. I am not a squeamish girl, Annabeth can attest to that. We had spent hours playing those RPG horror games with zombies and mummies in them (for some reason, I excel in those games… blame my ADHD) and I seldom scream. Not even those human anatomy exhibitions at a museum Annabeth once dragged me to have this effect. Sure, they were disturbing, with the muscles and veins and all, but they didn't make my skin crawl and make me want to scream like this thing in front of me…

And that was before she began to speak…

Later, Chiron told me that the oracle had died many years ago, maybe about fifty years or so, yet what really creeped me out was that she is still capable of spilling out a prophecy that concerns my destiny in the upcoming quest. It is really disturbing, every time I thought back to it. I hate mummies… especially talking mummies…especially especially old, withered mummies that spew green smoke and produce disturbing, cryptic riddles…

Even as I returned to my personal cabin and loudly slammed the wooden door shut, the ghastly voice still slithered in and out of my ears, refusing to let my mind rest in peace: _"__I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty python. Approach seeker, and let me show you the future." Before I could do anything, such as yell out in frustration or go to Chiron for therapy sessions, the voice finally brought down the wall of my mental defenses, put me to my bed, and pressed me into a dreamful sleep._

_I opened my eyes and found myself lying on a patch of lush green grass in a clearing of a beautiful forest. It was night. Dew drops were hanging from the tips of the grass blades and glistening under the pure moonlight. A quick scanning of the constellations told me that I am no longer on Earth, but somehow, I felt safe and at home. Just as I was about to get up and pat myself to get rid of any possible insects, a quick fist flew by and hit me square in the jaw, causing me to fall back down and gasp in surprise. A musical male voice laughed, then spoke, in a soft tone, a language that seemed strangely familiar._

"_Katniss, Katniss, Dôl gîn lost! Maethr!" he laughed. Somehow, I understood him! He was teasing me. "Katniss, Katniss. Your head is empty… fight!" Wait, how did I know that? It definitely was not English or any other language I know…And why did the voice seem so… familiar?_

_Before my sluggish mind could even formulate a coherent response, I felt a strong tug on my__ arm, and thus was thrown into another scene. A huge storm was brewing on the coast and I was running against the wind. There was a large city behind me, but somehow I was definitely sure that it wasn't New York. About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue and the other in green. They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew dark, and the winds rose. I had to stop them, I don't know why. But the harder I ran, the more that wind blew me back. Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed guy yelling at the green-robed one, "Give it back!"_

_The ground shook, and laughter came from somewhere under the earth, with a voice so deep and evil it almost turned my blood to ice. "Come down, little hero," the voice crooned, "come down!"_

_The sand split beneath me, opening up a hole that led straight down to the centre of the earth. Darkness soon enveloped, and I was falling. I screamed, but it was no use. I had no voice. Then, several voices began to speak at the same time, and I could only catch a few mismatched phrases: "prophecy", "sixteen", "sea spawn", "tear down the eternal city brick by brick", "It's all about choice", "wrongdoing of the gods"…_

I woke up screaming from the fall, yet found myself perfectly tucked in to a very comfortable bed. I sat up slowly, taking in my surroundings. I was in my bed at Camp Half-Blood. It had been just a dream. Just a dream…, I whispered to myself to try and calm down.

That night, I couldn't sleep anymore, so I sat hunched on the bed with my back against the wall, and waited for dawn to come. It took a long time.

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The next day, I finally told Chiron and Annabeth about the prophecy. It was decided that I should leave at once with Annabeth to fulfill the quest, so we were soon aboard the first Greyhound Bus west. According to Chiron's interpretation of the prophecy, we were supposed to go to Los Angeles, somehow retrieve a Master Bolt from a city of about four million people—under a ten-day time limit, or there would be a war among the gods. I have absolutely no idea why we are going to that place, but I promised myself not to question his decisions as soon as I knew that he had been training heroes for centuries. See, being old means having experience, and there must be a reason why he is still here and not get fired due to some bad decision-making. _Sheesh._ Is the life of a demigod always this hard? I just got here, and now I have to go on this death quest with that stupid prophecy and a threat of war hanging over my head. _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend; you shall fail to save what matters most in the end…those words weren't exactly that encouraging..._

We sat quietly at the back of the bus, trying to be as covert as possible. After a miserable half-an-hour silence, I was on the verge of explosion. ADHD, remember? My mind was still in a tangled mess from the nightmare I had last night, so I nudged Annabeth with my elbow and asked groggily: "I heard in my dream that there is this prophecy about me?"

Annabeth stiffened, shot me an incredulous look and hesitated a moment, before putting on a straight poker face. Which didn't work on me, as I had known her for years: "Katniss, I shouldn't…"

"What? Does it concern me dying or something? If it does, I want to know beforehand."

"Knowledge is not always good for you!" she scowled.

I frowned."But your mother is the wisdom goddess!" I was confused and getting really annoyed. "Besides, we are already ten miles out, and not a single monster has popped up, so just grab this chance of peace and let's have a chat. Please?"I shot her a pleading look.

She gave me an irritated look. "It is bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."

"Remind me again, why do you hate me so much?" What's happened to Annabeth? She used to be my best friend, and there shouldn't be any secret between us.

"I don't hate you."

I snorted."Oh, the time that you spent talking to me decreased drastically after I got sorted into the Poseidon cabin. Now, you basically do not talk to me unless it is some national emergency that I need to know, so yeah…could have fooled me." My voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Look, we are just not supposed to get along, ok? Our parents are rivals. I am already quite surprised that we grew up together and got along well for so long."Annabeth huffed and turned away.

"So now you are going to distance yourself from me? That is so sad and unfair, Annie." I whined in protest, demanding more information.

She sighed, "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught your dad with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring while my mom created the olive tree. The people thought that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."

I frowned. I liked springs, especially salty ones."They must really like olives."

Annabeth groaned and facepalmed, "Oh, forget it."

"Now if she had invented pizza…that I could understand."I said, barely holding back a smirk. Now that's some familiar bickering routine right there.

"I said, forget it!" Annabeth's was shouting louder and louder, and that attracted some attention from several random passengers on board, causing us to smile sheepishly and pretend that everything was fine between us two. But then, Annabeth froze. We did attract some unwelcomed attention after all.

One of the passengers turned around and started walking towards the back as if to use the restroom or something. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange hat that shadowed her face and she carried a big purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and Annabeth clamped her hand on my knee so hard that I almost yelped.

"That's a Fury…Kindly One!" Annabeth quickly corrected herself and hissed under her breath, "We need to get out, like right now." She pushed her invisibility hat into my hand.

"But I am not leaving without you, Annie!" I grabbed her hand too. She may be aggravating sometimes, but she was still my best friend. I won't leave her. I fumbled around in my pockets. I need a weapon…any weapon! My fingers found the ballpoint pen Chiron had given me earlier. I fingered it nervously. This wasn't the place… there were too many people around. You never know who can see through the Mist.

"You are a daughter of one of the Big Three, your smell might be overpowering." Annabeth shot me a look, slammed the cap onto my head, and shoved me down to through the other aisle to get to the front.

Just then, the old woman morphed into an evil black creature with huge, bat wings and fiery eyes. It pulled a long, fiery whip out of its bag and jumped at Annabeth. The Fury cornered Annabeth with a fiery whip, lashing out at Annabeth, hissing: "Where is it? Where is it?"

"She is not here!" Annabeth yelled and drew her bronze knife, "SHE IS GONE!"

The last part of the sentence turned into a scream as the whip landed on Annabeth's knife arm. I needed to do something, fast.

Still invisible, I ran towards the driver's seat, grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of a big, ugly Fury smashing against the windows. Booyah!

"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey—whoa!" We wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, and throwing sparks a mile behind us. We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel, with people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.

Somehow the driver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.

Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake. The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.

The Fury regained her balance. She lashed her whips at Annabeth while the latter waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. I took off the invisible cap and yelled "Hey!"

The Fury immediately spun around to get me, but I had already took out my pen, uncapped it, and was ready for the attack with a sword in hand.

The Fury seemed to want to have me for lunch, and then decided that I would give her indigestion, for her face seemed to scrunch up a little bit as soon as she approached me. The fiery whip wrapped around my sword hand, and instantly my hand felt like molten lead._ Aargh_! I struck the Fury on the left with the hilt of the sword, sending her toppling backwards into a seat. I stepped up to her and slashed, instantly turning her into a heap of fine yellow powder. I grinned, satisfied.

Naturally, that was when things got worse. The sky blackened instantly. Thunder shook the bus, and the smell of ozone filled the air.

"Get out, get out!" Annabeth got to my side and yelled at me. I did not need any encouragement. We scrambled outside as fast as we could.

We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze. A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped my photograph before I could recap my sword. Absently, I wondered what I would look like. A teenage girl wielding a lacrosse stick? Maybe they would think I was a sports player.

Just then, BOOOOOM!

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof. Then, more cries sounded. I glanced up towards the direction of the sound and saw two more furies wheeling in the sky, watching us with fiery, malicious eyes.

"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!" We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us. Oh I hate you so much, Zeus!

Our first day on a quest, and we just blew up a bus. Joy. I wonder what else is in store…

**Yeah, another chapter done! The next update is going to be very soon, I promise you that. Leave reviews and tell me what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5 Doorsteps of Hell

**Author's Notes: Hello, mortals of the Earth! I have returned and brought glad tidings to thee…another update! Thanks so much to all those who have viewed, reviewed, and followed my story, it means so much to me that someone is still reading this!**

**[This is totally not me begging for reviews and stuff…]**

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"DOA RECORDING STUDIOS" I read aloud, surprised that my dyslexia did not mess up with my vision this time, "NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING." It was just another shadowy section of Valencia Boulevard, and of course, no one in their right mind would suspect this humble hunk of black marble with golden letters would be the gateway to hell. I drew in a deep breath. No matter how ridiculous this sounds, I couldn't afford to fail now. This was our last day to retrieve Zeus's bolt, or there was going to be a great war among the gods. Thinking about this, I mentally rolled my eyes. _Ah, sometimes they just can't deal with their own issues, leave me alone for a few decades and let me die a peaceful death. That's what the life of a demigod is all about._

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Our journey had been riddled with so many unfortunate events that I can't even list them all out. Right after Zeus kindly blew up the Greyhound we had been travelling on, we ran right into the Medusa's lair due to starvation and lack of money. Call me crazy, but sometimes that is just how things are: food comes first, common sense later. That snake lady had tried to "take a picture" of Annabeth and I without using a camera, but we managed to escape by slicing her head off. Yes, it is gross, but in the same time pretty impressive if you consider the fact that we did the whole thing blind. Later, Annabeth informed me that Medusa had been the one dating Pose…my dad in her mother's temple, to which I snapped that it had been Athena who had physically cast the curse. We both sulked and refused to talk to each other for a while after this incident, but, blame the ADHD, we made up quite soon afterwards because neither of us can stand a quiet environment for too long.

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We then bought two train tickets using some of Medusa's stash (Hey, why not? She actually had mortal cash!) and took the train as far as Missouri, before Annabeth dragged me off the comfortable seat to go sightseeing at the St. Louis Arch. I had to admit, even for non-architecture geeks like me, it was awe-inspiring: a tall, graceful arc that spanned the flowing Mississippi river. But then again, it also looked like someone had stuck the handle of a giant shopping bag in the middle of the city, but I decided not to mention that to Annabeth, not aloud anyway.

I had to chuckle at Annabeth's enthusiasm, for she was shooting out fact after fact of this national monument. And when we reached the top viewing deck of the arch, Annabeth was furiously jotting down notes in her notebook on improvements she would have made: see-through floors, exotic-shaped windows, extra support for those points which are structurally weak…I tuned out her words after things got too much for my puny brain to understand, and went to stand by the handrails to watch the churning waters down below. Although this river is in the middle of the United States, I still felt that familiar warmth I have always felt since I was just a child.

My dad is watching me, I know. He is always by my side.

And then, there had to be some monsters jump at us to ruin this perfect moment. Echidna, a fat lady, otherwise known as the mother of monsters brought her son, a Chimera along with her. It was the ugliest brute I'd ever seen, with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and the tail of a snake. I was utterly paralyzed because the monster decided to blast fire and acid at me. I would have died and come to DOA Studios the hard way (or is it the easy way?) if Annabeth hadn't tackled me to the ground. As a result, the stream of fire and acid burnt a hole on the walls of this national monument. There was no way we could beat this monster without letting other mortals get hurt, so I decided to grab Annabeth, (which is a lot harder than it sounds when she is struggling) and pushed both of us through the gaping hole. Unfortunately, this leap of faith didn't result in me seeing the important points of our lives being replayed in front of me. I, for one, simply screamed my lungs out due to the exhilarating feeling of free-fall. The roaring wind ripped away the chance of communication between us two, but I knew Annabeth was cursing about stupid seaweed splattering on cement pavement by just reading her lips. I closed my eyes, diverted all my magical powers to controlling the river, and the river responded . It surged up, spinning like a waterspout, catching us softly to stop the momentum and then lowering us onto dry land.

"Katniss Everdeen!" Annabeth screamed my full name out of pure frustration, "It is six-hundred and thirty feet! How can you just jump out like that? Next time can we please talk before you drag me into doing something insane?"

Well, that was a lot better than the alternative ending of both of us splattering onto cement pavement.

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Later, Lord _(stretching the word out in a tone of absolute disdain)_ Ares bought us lunch and asked us to do him a little favor. That little detour to get his stupid shield wasted almost a day, plus Hephaestus decided to film us running for our lives from arachnid insects (also known as spiders) which were strategically planted along with the lost shield of the war god. Annabeth naturally screamed, like any other child of Athena, but quickly composed herself and told me to give them a bath. I got the tip and gave them a nice wash with water from a nearby pond. Oh, how I love the sound of short-circuited electronic objects. Of course, to express my grudge on being treated as some attendee in a TV show, I bowed deeply to the flying cameras around us, and put on my best sarcastic smile.

I wonder if we had gotten good ratings.

In return, Ares had smirked at our tiny "success" and gestured to an old and dirty van which would apparently take us to our destination of LA. He had also given me a pair of flying sneakers which he claimed to have won from Hermes, together with a nice spear with an unsettling resemblance to THE lightning bolt that we are looking for.

Honestly, I wasn't sorry at all for leaving Ares. If we stayed together for another minute, there is an eighty-percent-and-climbing possibility that either one of us is going to get hurt. _And I would very much prefer it to be him, not me._

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Once again, we could have just hidden on the back of the van all the way to Los Angeles, but a certain god (glares pointedly to the sky, cough*Ares*cough) forgot to tell us that the van wasn't a direct-arrival and the driver had to make a stop at Las Vegas. Unfortunately, we fell asleep at the back of the van, so it was quite easy for them to find us hitch-hiking and then throw us back onto the streets in the middle of the city. Then, we made several wrong-turns and ended up in front of the Lotus Casino and hotel. We wasted four days in that terrifying place because we were so occupied by playing the games in the casino. I had been playing a quick game of Mythomagic which involved Greek gods and how many attack points they had with this kid dressed all in black, but when he lost a game and started throwing curses and angry expressions that are seventy years old, I found out to my horror that this kid had been playing games for seventy years. SEVENTY YEARS! I managed to drag Annabeth away from a designing game by screaming "Spiders!" in her ear.

Ha, that always works.

One of the perks of stopping in the Casino, though, was the Membership Cards. Annabeth gave hers to a cab driver, and we practically flew over the Mojave Desert at one-hundred kilometers per hour.

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Apparently the Underworld entrance would be here in Los Angeles. The cab dropped us off at the Santa Monica Pier because he doesn't want to deal with the treacherous traffic in the city centre. I, on the other hand, walked straight into the ocean, ignoring Annabeth who was yelling about how polluted the water was. There, a friendly Nereid gave me a pearl that was apparently a gift from my father. We continued walking until we stumbled into a waterbed shop. Crusty tricked me into lying down on his stupid water bed and tied me up, then began stretching me. Luckily, Annabeth managed to escape him and pushed him into his own bed, tied him up, released me, and chopped his head off. I pouted and whined to Annabeth for a long time because I honestly wanted a waterbed for myself, and the deals he gave out were pretty reasonable. All my bones and joints ached and I swear I'm a few inches taller. Annabeth finally found the address of the Underworld in Crusty's old delivery receipts, while I cheerfully helped myself to the drachmas on his counter. Who knows when we would need to make an Iris-message…or…bribe someone?

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**Hey, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave a review below and tell me what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6 I visit the Eternal City

**Author's Notes: Hello everyone, I am back! Sorry for the irregular updates lately, but you know how it is… [banishing the Writer's Block to the fields of punishment…] Anyway, hope you enjoy this new chapter, and leave reviews below. **

**Again, my thanks to my good friend PJcrazy, who is the most awesome beta ever and has discussed many ideas with me, even wrote most of the previous chapter **_**and **_**this chapter for me. XD **

**[This is totally not me begging for more reviews…]**

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_**DOA RECORDING STUDIOS**_

_**NO SOLICITORS.**_

_**NO LOITERING.**_

_**NO LIVING.**_

I must be insane to do this… Last time I checked, I was literally paying a visit to hell. Sounds ridiculous, I know, especially when you count in the fact that I was doing this _willingly. _I opened the forbidding black doors and ended up in a waiting room, just like any other central transportation stations that is so commonly seen in the world of the living, except this place "bustled with death", right the opposite of "bustling with life". Creepy funeral music played softly on hidden speakers, the carpet and walls were steel grey. Pencil-like cacti grew in the corners like hands made of bone. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was occupied. There were people sitting on couches and plastic chairs, people standing up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything. There was something about these people…out of the corner of my eye, I could see them all just fine, but if I tried to focus on any one of them in particular, they looked transparent. I could see right through their bodies. I shuddered. _I __**do not **__want to end up like those people when I die._

I glanced around the room, and my eyes zoomed in on the curved, shiny black marble counter that said "**INFORMATION**" in giant capital letters. I leaned towards Annabeth and whispered, "Trust me. I have a plan."

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"Psst," Annabeth hissed under her breath, as we made our way to the bored-looking guy sitting at the back of the counter, "Kat, do you REALLY have a plan?"

"Uh…Want me to tell you the truth? Nope."I whispered back to her, "_this _is when improvisation comes in handy." She muttered something under her breath which sounded suspiciously like "seaweed brain" I cracked a grin. Just like old times…

I walked confidently towards the man at the counter. He was dressed in a ridiculously formal outfit, consisting of an Italian-looking silk shirt, a thick black coat and pants, along with a pair of expensive sunglasses. He hadn't seen us yet, as he was flicking through a black Ipad. I let my eyes travel to the name-tag on his chest. What I read made me raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"Your name is Chiron?" I asked incredulously. This guy looked nothing like the kind, wise centaur I had met in Camp.

Behind me, Annabeth groaned and facepalmed. The man at the counter did a double take and studied me curiously with weird eyes, then, he leant over and smiled sweetly, like a python smiling to its prey.

"What a precious little girl," he had a curious British accent, "I should have known that you weren't dead the moment you came into this room. Dyslexic demigods, are you not?"

"Um… no?" I tried to make a save but failed miserably.

"Tell me my dear, do I look like a centaur?"

"No…?" I ventured.

"Sir" He said smoothly.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "No...Sir."

He pinched the name tag and ran his finger under the letters. "Now, read after me, C-H-A-R-O-N, CARE-ON."

"Charon." I followed his instructions, feeling like a stupid three-year-old kid.

"Excellent! Now Mr. Charon."

Annabeth hastily stepped in for me before I could tackle him to the ground. "Mr. Charon."

"Now, what business do you have here, godlings?" Now that we had gotten his name right, he seemed pretty satisfied.

"We have to get to the Underworld." I insisted, taking us back on track with the urgent topic at hand.

Charon chuckled, amused. "Now this is refreshing. I have never seen a person who actually _wants_ to go to the Underworld."

We were so close.

Unfortunately for us, his face then hardened. "No."

"What? But you have to let us in! we have to meet your boss!" Annabeth kicked me in the shin. Yeah…now that I think about it, maybe demanding wasn't such a good idea.

Charon made a growling sound deep in his throat, making all the "people" in the waiting room start to move agitatedly.

"Leave when you can," Charon told us, "I will just forget that I ever saw you."

I desperately checked my pockets, wondering if maybe I could wave Riptide at him and scare him a bit, when my hands closed on something else. A sly smile crept up my face. "No service, no tip." I drawled out my voice.

Slowly, I took out a handful of drachmas and shone them in front of Charon's eyes. "See, we can pay our way in. These are real drachmas, golden drachmas," I looked him over, taking in his outfit. "I see you have taste in clothes. I'm guessing clothes like that don't come cheap."

His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.

"It's a shame too," I sighed. "We have so much more to offer."

I held up the entire leather pouch and shook it. A series of jingling sounds came from the numerous coins on the inside, making Charon purr like a contented lion. "I have to say, you're making good sense there, godling. Now, if you tell Hades that I want a pay-raise, I can…take the two of you and go…the boat is almost full anyway."

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_Now that's how you bribe the ferryman. _I grinned at Annabeth, who rolled her eyes and refused to look at me, but I could see a fond smile on her face. Charon yelled some inaudible instructions to the dead people in the lounge and took us down the elevator, which shot down so fast that my face almost slammed into the top of the elevator box. When the elevator landed, we were literally thrown onto a rickety, wooden fisherman's boat. I raised an eyebrow. I had expected some luxurious cruise ship or something along that line, the underworld certainly needed better funding. I then glanced at Charon, and saw his posh clothes had faded into a black robe like the kind executioners wear, and his face was a white skull. His eye sockets were blank, and I saw blackness and despair in his eyes. He noticed me staring and grinned at me. I shuddered and looked away quickly._ It's kind of scary when a skeleton like him can grin. _

The underworld was a grim place. Annabeth started whispered random facts about the underworld into my ear, which I knew was her way of dealing with extreme stress and nervousness. She told me how it was divided into three parts, the Fields of Punishment, where all the bad guys suffered, the Fields of Asphodel, where the ordinary people continued to spend their ordinary, pathetic lives, and Elysium, a paradise for heroes only. She told me about Cerberus, the three headed dog, and how Hercules kidnapped him. honestly, I wasn't really listening, as I was too busy gaping at the sight of the Underworld.

Later, we entered a gigantic, black cavern. The ceiling was so high that I would have thought it directly connected with the world above if it weren't for the sharp, black stalactites hanging from the ceiling. We floated along a dark, inky river. The oily surface of the river was littered with papers, diplomas, photos, toys, bones…many things.

"The river Styx…" muttered Annabeth from behind me. "It's so…"

"Polluted." Charon snorted as he continued rowing. "You mortals dump all your stuff in here when you cross. Hopes, dreams, wishes…. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me. You might mention that to Hades as well."

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Charon tipped his hat to us as we reached the shore. "I would wish you good luck, except…you might need more than luck to survive. And remember to talk about my pay-raise." He rowed away, chuckling. _Jerk._

Annabeth sighed and started leading me towards the huge black palace in front of us. I followed reluctantly, thinking up some choice words that I might throw at Charon the next time I met him. I shouldered my backpack, which seemed to have become heavier by the step… and walked with Annabeth into the vast cavern that was the Underworld.

Passing Cerberus was a nightmare which I never want to go through again. Annabeth managed to keep his attention with a red rubber ball (she keeps all sorts of stuff in her bag) while I tried to bypass him. Believe me, it was terrifying being underneath that giant, transparent dog, because there was always a high possibility that he would suddenly decide to sit down. Annabeth threw the ball as hard as she could, and Cerberus sprinted off happily after the ball. She soon joined me, looking back wistfully at him.

"I always wished I had a dog…" she sighed.

I stuck my tongue out. "You want a hellhound the size of a building? That's sick."

She winked at me. "Maybe, you never know."

I was about to retort when suddenly, the flying shoes I was wearing suddenly sprouted wings and started flying off at top speed. I screamed and tried to take them off, but it was going too fast. _Lord_ Ares never told me how to turn it off. (Glares pointedly at the sky again) Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Annabeth sprinting after me, but the shoes were going too fast for her to catch up.

It seemed that the destination of those flying shoes was another dark, musty cavern. A dark feeling of evil overwhelmed me the instant I entered the forbidding entrance. Then, I saw a sight that would haunt my nightmares for months—a giant, circular pit the size of two football fields. It had no bottom. The feeling of evil emanated directly from the pit. I started screaming for help, but Annabeth was too far away, and none of the ghosts paid me any attention. I was going to die. Desperately, I uncapped Riptide and started slashing away at the shoes. It didn't do much good.

As the evil shoes seemed to have no intention of stopping in front of the evil hole, I started to fumble in my backpack, looking for something strong enough to serve as an anchor. My hands closed around the spear that Ares gave me, so I grabbed it and stabbed at the cursed shoes as hard as I could. To my shock, a bright flash of lightning lit up the entire cavern for an instant. The shoes dropped me on the ground, smoking. However, my feet weren't the least bit harmed; maybe the shoes had protected them—the only good thing they would have done.

The problem with the enchanted shoes wasn't the most serious issue I have right now. My eyes were glued to the spear in my hands. The lightning design winding around the spear was now glowing a bright, electric blue. As I watched, the spear and the design morphed into a lightning bolt. _**The **_lightning bolt. The master bolt had been in the backpack the whole time since Ares gave it to me. _Oh Styx. This is bad. This is so, very, extremely bad._

Annabeth spoke in a panicked tone as she reached me. "Katniss, we need to get out, NOW!"

"Annabeth, the bolt, it is right here in my backpack! I didn't…"I still hadn't recovered from my almost-fall into that evil pit.

"Yes, I know! Now get out of here! Do you know what that hole is?!" she was definitely freaking out, "That is Tartarus! That's the place where they kept the most dangerous monsters!"

That immediately brought me out of the trance. We ran outside as fast as we could. Suddenly, a strong wind blew, trying to suck us back down into the hole. We struggled, and finally reached outside. I have never been happier when I saw the landscapes of the Underworld reappear before my eyes. An angry roar sounded from the cavern. "_MINE!" Something wasn't happy I had gotten away._

We finally stopped for a rest after getting a decent distance between us and the evil hole. Annabeth finally seemed to recognize the object in my hands. Her eyes widened almost comically, "Is that…." She began.

"Obviously…"I muttered under my breath.

She glared at me. I read the accusation in her eyes "Then, are you…"

"No! Of course not! This bolt…" I couldn't think of a word to express my emotions right now so I just gestured at it wildly. "Ares gave us this spear. He set us up!" I knew how bad this looked. We had to get to Olympus now.

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Just then, a voice interrupted us. "No… you are coming with me." _Oh, Styx. _

We froze and then turned to face a god-like presence which must be Lord Hades, for he was flanked by the three Furies, Alecto, Tisiphone and Megaera. Hades himself was at least ten feet tall, dressed in black silk robes with tortured faces woven in the cloth and a crown of braided gold. His skin was white, almost unhealthy, but I guess you couldn't blame him for that considering the fact that he doesn't get to sunbathe very often. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power, the concentrated, evil aura that made him look very much like Hitler or Napoleon or other terrorist leaders. "You have guts, kid. First stealing my helm, and then firing my brother's most powerful weapon in my realm. He will not be pleased indeed." Hades said, in an oily voice.

"I wasn't the thief, I was set up!" I suddenly felt how weak words are.

"Silence, Sea spawn!" he roared. I felt an instant urge to obey, to kneel in front of him and pledge allegiance or something. He was my master. I tried to shake off the influence._ I hate it when they do that._

Lord Hades continued in a cold voice. "The evidence is in your hands. My Helm is undoubtedly somewhere in that backpack of yours." He smiled cruelly at me. "Do you not think it odd that only Poseidon has not had anything stolen from him?"

I glared at him, no longer caring that he was a god. No longer caring about the fact that he can incinerate me at any time he preferred. I hated being toyed with. I hated being bullied around. I hated being falsely accused. I glared at him. "Now look here, _Lord _Hades. I did not steal your helm, nor did I steal this lightning bolt! Why would I wish to start a war? I came here believing _you _had taken it! It's your choice to believe me or not, and you know what, I don't care how you think!" I paused for a breath, "I am going to Olympus to set this straight, clear my name, and there is nothing you can do to stop me!" I took the pearl the Nereid had given me from my pocket.

Hades looked like he wanted to kill me on the spot. He raised his hand, and twenty skeletal soldiers surrounded us, all armed with weapons ranging from Greek swords to AK-47s to rocket launchers. One of them even had Annabeth in a head-lock position. However, none of the soldiers dared to step close to me. _Probably because I ha_ve _the Master Bolt_, I smirked to myself. Hades then took a deep breath and glared at me. "Is that so, sea spawn? You were framed? He glanced at the pearl in my hand, "I am a fair god, Katniss Everdeen. You say you have been framed? I will allow you back to Olympus to prove it."

"Thank-"

"However," He gave a cruel, cold smile. "There is only one pearl. There are two of you. So that means one of you has to stay behind and be my hostage."

A lump formed in my throat. It was true. One pearl can only be used to take one person. One of us would be left behind. I cast a panicked look at Annabeth. She sighed. "I'll stay."

I shook my head violently. "Annie, I am not leaving without-"

"I said I'll stay!" she interrupted me with a loud yell, causing me to flinch. "Go back to Olympus and prove your innocence. I'll stay." When she saw I refused to move, she sighed; her voice suddenly became extremely soft as if she was coaxing me back to sleep after I had a nightmare. "Go, Katniss. You're the more important one here. If you don't go, there will be war. There is no other option."

A tear streaked down my face as I looked at my best friend for one last time. "I'll come back for you, I promise. Stay alive, for me."

Annabeth bit her lip and nodded jerkily.

I turned to Hades and said in the harshest tone I could muster: "You'd better not harm her."

Hades chuckled in amusement. He waved his hand at me in a shooing motion. "Go on now, sea spawn… you have ten hours before the solstice."

I took a deep breath and smashed the pearl at my feet and allowed darkness to envelop me. What happened next could be described as the wildest, scariest roller coaster ride ever—inside a white bubble.

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When I could see things again, I was standing on a dry solid surface that looked suspiciously like an asphalt road. I immediately made for the side of the road to avoid an unfortunate accident in the bustling traffic, and sat down on a roadside bench to clear my mind of the slightly nauseous feeling. _You shall fail to save what matters most in the end. _The last line of the prophecy swirled around my head, mocking my inability to protect my best friend from danger. _I left Annabeth alone in the Underworld for god's sake!_

But the best and only way to stop this whole thing from going worse was to get the bolt back to Olympus…wait, is that Empire State Building? My eyes fixed on the tall, glowing structure about five blocks away and I cracked a grin. Ha. Nothing is going to stop me now.

Thirty minutes later, I walked into the lobby of said Empire State Building.

I must have looked like a homeless kid, with my tattered clothes and my scraped-up face. Don't blame me for this, for I hadn't slept in at least twenty-four hours. "I need an audience with Zeus." Annabeth had told me that Olympus was on top of the Empire State Building. Problem is, she forgot to tell me which floor it was.

He gave me a vacant smile. "Sorry?"

"You heard me. I need to get to Olympus"

The guy studied me for a long while. I was about to decide this guy was just a regular mortal, and I'd better run before he called the police, when he said, "No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced."

"Oh, I think he'll make an exception." I nodded at him with a smile and began to unzip the top of my backpack.

The guard looked inside at the metal cylinder and immediately, all the color drained from his face. He fumbled around on his key chain, producing a small plastic card and swiped it furiously on some detectors behind his counter. The door soon opened and then he said: "This way, kid, make sure that you are alone in the elevator."

The elevator was small, and the speakers played a soft, quiet music of "Raindrops keep falling on my head…" I groaned. _Who picks this music? They have no taste at all…_

I stared at the big, red flashing numbers on the display and took a few calming breaths. 10…20…50….80…100…102…200…300…Wait, what? I was pretty sure there were only 102 floors in the entire building, but then again… Olympus was magical. I fidgeted nervously in the elevator for what seemed like hours. Stupid ADHD. _Finally, _a ding signaled the end of the elevator ride and I stepped out with a mighty yell.

I was standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air, and if I looked down, I could see Manhattan, from the height of an airplane. In front of me, white marble steps would up into a cloud and the end of the walkway was something that nearly gave me a heart-attack.

From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces—a city of mansions—all with white-columned patios, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires. Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow. Precariously perched gardens bloomed with olive trees and rosebushes. I could make out an open-air market filled with colorful tents, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain, a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other. It was an Ancient Greek city, except it wasn't in ruins. It was new, and clean, and colorful, the way Athens must've looked twenty-five hundred years ago.

This place can't be here, I told myself. This is a billion-ton mass of stuff and it is hanging right above a city. How could it be anchored above the Empire State Building, in plain sight of millions of people, and not get noticed?

But here it was, and I was inside this city.

My trip through Olympus was a daze. I passed some giggling wood nymphs who threw olives at me from their garden. Hawkers in the market offered to sell me ambrosia-on-a-stick, a new shield, and a genuine glitter-weave replica of the Golden Fleece, as seen on Hephaestus-TV. The nine muses were tuning their instruments for a concert in the park while a small crowd gathered—satyrs and naiads and a bunch of good-looking teenagers who might've been minor gods and goddesses. Nobody seemed worried about an impending civil war. In fact, everybody seemed in a festive mood. Several of them turned to watch me pass, and whispered to themselves. I climbed the main road, toward the big palace at the peak. It was a reverse copy of the palace in the Underworld.

There, everything had been black and bronze. Here, everything was white and silver.

I realized Hades must've built his palace to resemble this one. He wasn't welcomed in Olympus except on the winter solstice, so he'd built his own Olympus underground. Despite my bad experience with him, I felt a little sorry for the guy. To be banished from this place seemed really unfair. It would make anybody bitter.

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The sound of boots clomping behind me snapped me back to reality. I turned around and saw a huge, buff man in his black leather duster and sunglasses, and an aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. "Hey, kid," Ares said with a smile. "You were supposed to die in the Underworld."

"You think? Well, sorry to disappoint you" I managed a sarcastic smirk as I pulled out Riptide, readying my stances for a fight._ Ares wouldn't bring a bat with him for peaceful purposes._

"The prophecy was right," I said, raising my volume to attract some attention. "_You shall go west and face the god who has turned._ But it wasn't Hades; it was _you_, wasn't it? _You_ stole both of them."

He grinned, "Well, I did not steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols of power—that is a big no-no. But you are not the only hero in the world who can run errands."

"Who did you use then, who? Why did you plant the bolt on me?"

The war god grinned. I really, really wanted to punch him. "It doesn't matter tight now. The point is, girl, you are impeding the war effort. See, I really want to see a three-sided fight and I am going to get it because I am the god of war."

A few nymphs were gathering around me and Ares, and another few of them were running towards the Throne Room. _I really hope that they are going there to get some help. Honestly, if this turns ugly, I have no chance against him, however much hatred I have towards him…_

Ares took out a ski cap from his pocket, and it immediately morphed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

"That's the Helm of Darkness." I gasped in surprise.

"Exactly…" Ares seemed to be very pleased, "And, I tinkered with the magic a bit so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades…Bingo, you got a new mail. I _am _the god of war after all. Weapons are my specialty."

I opened my mouth to try to say something else, but he snapped his fingers. The tiles exploded at his feet and out charged a wild boar, even larger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door to the Ares Cabin.

I stepped closer to a nearby fountain. "Fight me yourself, Ares."

"In your adolescent dreams! Sorry, kid, but you are not at my level."

As the boar rushed me, I lifted Riptide and side-stepped. I slashed upwards as the boar passed by my side. The boar's severed right tusk fell at my feet, while the disoriented animal charged out of the narrow walkway and into the oblivion below.

I turned back to Ares. "Are you going to fight me now?" I asked, "Or are you going to whip out another pet?"

Ares' face turned purple with rage. "Watch it, kid. I could-"

"Turn me into a tapeworm, yeah I know that." My voice was dripping with sarcasm. If Annabeth had been here, she would have kicked me. But now… "If I lose, turn me into anything you want. If I win, I take both of these." I gestured to the bolt and the helm lying on the ground beside us.

Ares sneered, "Your funeral, kid." He stepped up with a huge, two-handed sword that seemed to have come out of nowhere. He slashed down at my head, but I was faster than that. My body thought for me. I catapulted over him with ease, slashing as I came down, but Ares was not bad either. He twisted, and the strike that should have severed his spine was deflected. _I am really in trouble now._

I stepped nearer to him with a thrust, but Ares was anticipating that move. He knocked my blade out of my hands and kicked me square in the back. (Don't ask me how he did this; he is the god of fighting…) I would have broken my back if I hadn't crashed into an ambrosia stand nearby.

I was seeing double. My chest felt like it had been hit by a train, but I managed to get up anyway before he could end me with another stab. "Admit it, kid." Ares laughed, "You got no hope, I was just toying with you." He walked over and planted a foot on my back. I was in no position to fight back.

I got angry, I mean _really angry and frustrated_, just like the day I caused the Art Room to explode and doused everyone with water. I felt a familiar tug in my stomach; and a roar rang in my ears. The fountain behind me exploded an unleashed a jet of water right in his face, leaving him cursing and sputtering. I suddenly felt reenergized. New strength flowed into me as the water washed over me. I leapt high and landed behind him with a splash, feinted towards his head, but then changed directions and stabbed Riptide straight down, puncturing the god's heel.

The roar seemed to shake the entire city of Olympus. Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from the boot of the war god. His expression was hatred, pain, shock, and complete disbelief that he had been wounded. "You have sealed your fate, Katniss Everdeen. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for victory, you will feel…"

"What are you doing Ares? Don't you dare to curse my daughter!" Another voice stepped in and interrupted his curse. I looked towards the source and saw two gods standing right behind me. There was one who wore a dark blue suit, had a well-trimmed beard which was marbled grey and black like a storm cloud. This must be Zeus, king of the gods. The god next to him was obviously his brother, but he was dressed very differently. He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Bahamas shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it. His skin was tanned, his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's, his hair was a brownish dark and his eyes were sea-green, just like mine.

"Father." I knelt in front of the fisherman and put Riptide away.

"Peace, my girl. We have heard about everything, so do not worry, we know that you are innocent." The old fisherman helped me back to my feet.

Zeus cleared his throat noisily. My father glared at him. "However…" his voice dripped with annoyance and anger. "…my annoying brother has somehow seen it fit for you to come before the council." He knelt before me, ignoring Zeus' splutters and cupped a hand to my cheek. "No matter what happens there, Katniss, I want you to know that I will always stand behind you" he whispered into my ear.

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**Oh, that is quite a decent cliff-hanger I have right there! Leave reviews and tell me what you think happens next!...**

**Until next time, peoples of the earth!**


	7. Chapter 7 Bull-fighting

**Author's Notes: Although the amount of review is way less then I would prefer, I still brought you this new update because I am a very nice person. Please leave more reviews or else I might really consider ditching this half-way…sobs loudly and miserably so feed me with your reviews and I will be energized enough to continue writing!**

**My thanks Pjcrazy who has been very helpful and awesome as a beta…**

**Hope you enjoy this new chapter!**

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"After the carnage of WWII and all the destruction caused to the world of men, we three brothers swore on the Styx never again to bear half-blood children blah, blah, blah…" Zeus droned on an on. Alright, maybe that wasn't what he actually _said,_ but that was what I _heard. _This was way worse than the daily lectures at my old school. As Zeus rambled about how terrible it is for my dad to break their oath after WWII and sired me as his daughter, other gods simply tuned him out.

I sat in the middle of the throne room, next to the hearth. The twelve thrones were set in a huge semicircle around me. I saw a pretty twelve year old girl in a brown dress sitting next to me, literally in the flames, smiling warmly at me. Her eyes were wise and very kind. Instantly, I knew this must be a goddess, and one of the _good _ones. Just looking at her smile seemed fill me with warmth and give me confidence

Nearly an hour later, I was near the edge of screaming profanity at the Sky Lord due to my stupid ADHD. I let my gaze wander around the thrones, studying each god or goddess. Zeus, the old airhead (I will never say this out loud or else I will get blasted to bits) was still talking, Hera, a tall, serious looking woman in a white dress was next to him, a permanent look of disapproval on her face. Poseidon was subtly yawning, and he often stole some encouraging glances towards me. Ares…also looked bored out of his brain, but I didn't really pity him much. Hephaestus, the scarred, powerful-looking blacksmith had already built a small working model of a bronze dragon which was hovering around his throne. I watched it with interest. Apollo had his shades down, which I suspected hid his eyes to hide the fact that he was actually snoozing, given the fact that one of his earphones had fallen out and he hadn't noticed. Hermes was dressed like a business man and was busy scrolling through messages on his phone/caduceus while Dionysus had fallen asleep with a wine magazine over his eyes. On the goddess's side, Demeter, a wispy woman with a dress the color of ripe wheat fields was eating a bowl of cereal. Artemis was idly stringing and unstringing her bow; Aphrodite looked like a glamour queen and her eyes never left the mirror in front of her. Out of the entire hall, only Athena seemed to be _really _paying attention to Zeus. And lastly but not least, the goddess by my side, which I finally recognized as Hestia just smiled and poked at the fire contentedly.

"And now…we must…_thank_…the demigod who has brought back my bolt." _That _caught my attention. I looked up at Zeus, who was grimacing like he just ate something that had well passed the expiry date. There was a sound of stirring in the council. _Zeus thanking somebody? That was something new_. Everyone else stared at Zeus expectantly, willing him to go on talking. He grimaced again, before forcing the words out through gritted teeth. "Thank you…Katniss Everdeen… for returning the master bolt to me. I now grant you a reward. You may request one thing of the gods, and if it is _reasonable _and in our power, we shall do it."

A thousand thoughts crashed through my mind then. Request a thing from the gods? This was _big!_ My mind flashed through the things I had wished I had. Powers, weapons, blessings, privileges…the list went on and on. Then suddenly, I remembered the promise I had made. As soon as I thought about her, all the things on the list of "the-things-I-want-from-the-gods" seemed to fade as that promise stood out in my head. "Lord Zeus, I request that Annabeth, Athena's daughter be brought back from the Underworld where Hades is keeping her hostage."

The throne room went so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Then I remembered something else. "Oh yeah, and while you're at it…" I produced the Helm I had won from Ares "return this to Lord Hades." I tossed it to Zeus, who grimaced _again _and gave it to Hermes. Zeus sighed and asked. "This favor seems to be reasonable and in our power. All in favor?" the entire council raised their hands except for Dionysus, who was still asleep, and Ares, who was glaring at me darkly.

Zeus nodded at Hermes, who winked at me and flashed out. I instinctively averted my eyes. Less than five minutes later, he flashed back with Annabeth in tow. Annabeth shot me a grateful look, and I smiled happily at her. Everything was right in the world now. Zeus stood up and announced the council resolved, then flashed out with a clap of thunder. _Apparently he was feeling quite dramatic today._

After the council, many of the Olympians stopped to talk to me. Athena gratefully thanked me for saving her daughter; Aphrodite cast me a long, wired look, and then happily declared I will have a very _interesting _love life. _It was a bit disturbing, but I haven't found a boyfriend yet, thank you very much; _Apollo clapped me in the back and congratulated me for being the first demigod Zeus had to grudgingly thank; Artemis extended an invitation to join her hunters; Ares looked like he wanted to beat me up again, but one look at Poseidon quickly changed his mind, and he slunk off, with many dark glares at me.

Later, when my dad accompanied me on the short walk from the Throne Room to the elevator, he seemed a bit nervous. _Understandable, as this was probably the first time we were alone together._ He looked me in the eyes and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um, Katniss, my daughter. I am sorry I couldn't be there for you while you were growing up, but know this; I shall always care for you."He then smiled at me. "Most girls wish for a horse when they are your age. Consider this my gift to you, for twelve years worth of birthdays." Poseidon turned to the sky and closed his eyes for a few seconds, and then a beautiful jet-black Pegasus flew over the rooftops of Olympus and landed by my side. It was a beautiful creature, the only pure black Pegasus I had ever seen. My father turned back to me with a smile. "Her name is Blackjack. She was set apart for you the night you were born. She has been waiting to meet her owner for years now."

I was speechless. This was my personal Pegasus? I looked over the mare again, but stiffened as a voice entered my mind.

_Blackjack at your service, daughter of the sea. _There was a note of wonder and joy in her voice. I stared at Poseidon in disbelief. He chuckled. "Well, you aremy daughter. I created horses, so you will be able to talk to them too, just like me. But seeing as Blackjack is your personal Pegasus, you will have a telepathic link with her, allowing you to call her from anywhere.

I looked back at the mare. _Um, hi there, I am Katniss._

Blackjack whinnied in indignation. _Yes, of course I know who you are, don't insult my intelligence. Any other questions, boss? _Ah, the horse has a sense of humor. This is going to be so fun.

This was the best gift I had ever received in my life. "Thank you…Dad", I said, fighting down the urge to say something cold and formal like "Thank you sir." He seemed surprised as well, but he started chuckling as he pulled me into a tight hug. I have never hugged my father before in my life, so this sensation was quite…pleasant.

"Well… the daughter of Athena is waiting for you. You had better be going." Poseidon said in a gruff voice. I smiled at him and then turned to Annabeth. Together we mounted Blackjack and soared back towards Camp Half Blood. Of course, we could have taken the elevator, and then use the taxi, but what's the fun with that?

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When we got back to camp, Chiron asked me if I would be staying for the school year. There was almost no hesitation. I had nobody parent to return to in the mortal world, unlike Annabeth, who was going back to her family. School would most probably be useless for me, since factoring a polynomial and writing English essays are probably not going to be helpful when a facing a monster. Therefore, I signed up to stay for the year, along with nearly half of the demigods. Don't get me wrong, I still have to learn all the regular school subjects and take exams, but it's going to be going to be way-cooler than the regular school. Since Chiron was on good terms with Hades, we get to have Shakespeare teach us English, Euclid teaches us math, Archimedes teach us science, and Plato teaches us Greek and philosophy.

It had been disconcerting at first to see the Camp so empty, but I quickly got used to it and started having fun with the year-rounders. I asked Blackjack to take me on a ride every now and then; pranked other cabins with the help of the Stoll brothers from Cabin Eleven, practiced my swordplay with Luke; got pulled into the Aphrodite cabin more than once a day by Silena for a "makeover" and played Capture the Flag with the camp. It was the most fun I had had in years.

Life seemed to return to normal several months later, during the winter break. Annabeth came back and we shared conversations about her life back at the mortal world in fluent Greek. Several new demigods appeared at camp, but just as many old campers had left us. As for me, my life didn't really change too much: I still lived happily by myself in the Poseidon cabin; Every day, I did sword-fight training sessions; climbed the lava wall in full-earthquake mode; practice running every morning to try to catch up with a tree _(It's quite humiliating if you can't do it)_; and get battered and bruised when Clarisse decides to tackle me onto a wrestling mat for some close-quarters combat…

I loved Camp Half Blood.

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A blaring siren tore through the silence of the empty archery range, causing me to flinch and let out an arrow that flew way off the target. I cursed under my breath, but proceeded to pick up my weapons and headed outside. _Better to be safe than sorry._

See, archery was one of the most interesting skills I picked up in the camp. And, though I was pretty good with Riptide, I was actually _better_ at archery, and by "better", I mean "matching-the-the-Apollo-cabin" type of "better". This fact got me a lot of raised eyebrows among the campers because apparently Poseidon's kids are not supposed to be good at archery because of some centuries-old curse that I don't want to know. The Apollo cabin seemed to be fascinated with me, because they would drag me out of bed every morning as soon as the first sliver of sunlight appeared on the horizon so that I can join them in their daily archery training sessions. It was fun, I have to admit that, but it also helped me develop a habit of getting up early.

As I stepped out into the open, I was greeted with the sight of a warzone. Apollo campers were standing in a perfect line with their bows aimed and ready; Hephaestus campers were busy laying out Greek fires in a formation so tight that I almost stepped on one of them and blow myself up; Ares campers were dividing the rest of the campers into small teams to form phalanx formations.

And standing there, right at the top of Half-blood Hill, were two _bulls_, two bronze bills the size of elephants, and on top of that, naturally they just _had to_ breathe fire. The bulls charged again and again at the magical borders of the camp, and each time, a bright white wall of light flared, but the magical boundaries were certainly getting weaker.

The enormous cracking noise caused the whole camp to go silent. As we watched, the bulls slammed their heads at the magical boundaries for one last time before the whole protective shell came crashing down like broken glass. The bulls stomped their feet in victory, before charging straight up the mountain slope.

_Wait, the boundaries aren't supposed to be so easily breakable._ I had just finished the thought before the Apollo campers launched a volley of arrows at the two bulls. The arrows hit their targets -each of them was a perfect shot, mind you- but the bulls didn't seem to be affected in any visible way. A few of the campers were thrown into the air as the bulls charged at them, and Clarisse shouted, "Border patrol, to me!"

Normally, rushing to Clarisse's aid would not have been high on my to-do list. She, along with the other Ares kids at camp, all hated my guts because of my fight on Olympus last summer. Still, she was in trouble. Her fellow warriors were scattering and turning their backs on the impending bulls. "Hold the line!" Clarisse yelled, but apparently, in all the commotion, it's quite hard for an order like that to actually serve its commanding purpose.

I threw my bows and arrows on the ground and drew out my ballpoint pen. I was good with archery, but as of now, the sword seemed to be the better weapon. It shimmered and quickly changed into the shimmering bronze sword named Riptide. The bulls moved deadly fast for something of its size. Their metal hides gleamed in the sun. They had fist-sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out. Annabeth turned invisible confused Bull #1 while the phalanx formation kept Bull #2 occupied. I, for the first time since I joined camp, did not know what I should do in this situation.

I snapped myself out of this aimless trance when Bull #1 lost interest in looking for Annabeth and decided to close in on Clarisse from behind. "Clarisse, watch out, incoming on your rear!" I yelled.

I shouldn't have said anything, because all I did was startle her. Bull #2 crashed into the phalanx formation from the front, so Clarisse went flying backwards and landed on a smoldering patch of grass. The bull charged past her, but not before blasting other people with a fiery breath. Then, Bull #2 closed in for the kill.

I lunged forward as fast as I could and grabbed Clarisse by the straps of her armor, just in time to prevent her from being stampeded. All that training really paid off. I swiped with Riptide and left a huge gash on the body, but the monster didn't even groan. _Curse those machines and their feeling-less bodies._

"Let me go!" Clarisse grabbed my hair, making me yelp in pain. "Curse you, Ariel! I don't need your help!"_Ariel? I didn't know I look like a mermaid…_

I dropped her on a heap of grass and turned back to face the bulls. We were on the inside slope of the hill now, the valley of Camp Half-Blood directly below us—the cabins, the training facilities, the Big House—all of it at risk if these bulls got past us. Annabeth shouted orders to the other heroes, telling them to spread out and keep the bulls distracted. Bull #1 ran a wide arc, making its way back toward me. As it passed the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line should've kept it out, it slowed down a little, as if it were struggling against a strong wind; but then it broke through and kept coming. Bull #2 turned to face me, fire sputtering from the gash I'd cut in its side. I couldn't tell if it felt any pain, but its ruby eyes seemed to glare at me like I'd just made things personal.

I couldn't fight both bulls at the same time. I'd have to take down Bull #2 first, cut its head off before Bull #1 charged back into range. My arms already felt tired. Sooner or later they will get a lucky strike and that would be the end of me.

I lunged but Bull #2 blew flames at me. I rolled aside as the air turned to pure heat. All the oxygen was sucked out of my lungs. My foot caught on something— a tree root, maybe—and pain shot up my ankle. Still, I managed to slash with my sword and lop off part of the monster's snout. It galloped away, wild and disoriented. But before I could feel too good about that, my left leg buckled underneath my weight. My ankle was sprained, maybe broken.

Bull #1 charged straight toward me. No way could I crawl out of its path. There was certainly going to be "Fried Katniss" on today's menu…

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**Yeah, another chapter is done! Again, please do leave more reviews, it makes me feel better when I know someone is still reading this story…**


	8. Chapter 8 Perimeter Breach

**Hi guys! This is not alone on the water, as she didn't know what to put in the author's note, so she handed this responsibility over to **_**moi**_**. This is Pjcrazy, her awesome and amazing beta, who has been busy helping her with her story. I got a few things to say.**

**First of all, thank you all for reading this far…shows that you like this story. Also thanks to the people who have reviewed. It means a lot to the author. **

**Second, AOTW is too shy to ask, but I'm her Beta, who also is very interested in the story, so I'll ask for her. (Smirks) Review! It means a lot to authors when you review. The author here, (smirks and waves at the fuming author) was very excited about the story. Kept me up till midnight discussing all the stuff she wanted to put in and discussing various plot points with me. (Yawn.) So, don't disappoint her and review!**

**So that's all I have to say, thanks!**

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_Bull Number One charged straight towards me with its head raised, mouth heating up and ready to blow fire. There is no way I could crawl out of its path with a wounded ankle like this. Behold, there is definitely going to be "Fried Katniss" on the front-page of today's menu…_

I closed my eyes and waited for the searing painful feeling of being incinerated. I didn't know what it would feel like, but then again, I didn't want to know. It's just going to be another quick, one way ticket to DOA Studios, but strangely, that never came. Slowly, I opened my eyes a crack, squinted and tried to see what was going on. A huge figure,—probably six-foot-three and built like the Abominable Snowman, mind you—was standing right between me and the bull, his clothes scorched only a tiny bit. He had a misshapen and brutal-looking face, but it was quite hard for me to tell what color his eyes were. His breathing was deep and labored, and his powerful-looking hands clenched the bull's horns tightly, as if trying to stop it from moving forward. When the cow decided to heat up again and release a second blast, this figure balled his fists and slammed them into the bulls face, crumpling the metal like an aluminum soda can. "BAD COW!" he shouted, a bit too gleefully. _Man. That's strong…_

The 'snowman' then turned around to check on my injured ankle. Honestly, it felt like being dipped in acid, but he gave me some Olympian nectar to drink from an extra-large-sized canteen and I immediately felt better. A cooling sensation seemed to flow over my injured ankle, soothing and healing it. There was a burning smell that I later learned was me. The hair on my arms had been completely singed off.

I craned my neck up to try to find the other bull, but the 'snowman' easily read my thoughts: "Bad cow gone. War girl hurt it in the leg." It took me quite a while before my brain registered that "war girl" was referring to Clarisse._ Hmph. Suits her._

"I uh… I'm surprised that you didn't die from the bull's fire breath." I tried to pick up a conversation while trusting the Abominable Snowman to bandage up my injured ankle. _He is a stranger, I know, but what else can I do? He did just save my life._

"I don't know." He gave a simple reply.

"At least tell me your name."

"Tyson, the name is Tyson." He regarded me with an outstretched hand and I took it, biting my lip not to yelp when he gave it a squeeze. I felt a spark then. Not the romantic kind, more like friendship-wise bond.

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"Katniss Everdeen!" Clarisse screamed and yelled when I limped into the Big House for a debriefing session, "Don't ever, EVER try to save my life again!"

"And let you die a warrior's death…yeah, right." I mumbled under my breath, hoping that Clarisse wouldn't be able to hear that comment. _Honestly, some people…_

"Who's that guy?" Annabeth narrowed her eyes and gestured towards Tyson, who was standing a few feet away from me, in case I fall down due to my injured ankle. Tyson looked a little intimidated by the scary blonde girl with the knife.I patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"His name is Tyson, and I have reasons to believe that he is friendly." I sighed tiredly.

"I need to talk to you for a moment, alone." Annabeth glared around the room, and then dragged me to the other corner of the room not too gently. The other campers alternately watched us with interest or studied Tyson.

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"Katniss," she said with a surprisingly low and quiet voice for a person who seemed just about ready to bit my head off a few minutes ago. "Did you even look at Tyson closely? I mean, in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him?"

The Mist is a magical veil that allows humans to only see what their brains can process, which means…it can fool demigods too. Chiron told me about it in first year. It may have been useful when demigods fought monsters in public, but most of the time it just made it harder for us unsuspecting demigods to spot a disguised monster. _But Tyson isn't a monster…is he?_

I looked at Tyson in the face. It wasn't easy. Since I first met him (which was a few minutes ago), I seemed to have had trouble looking directly at him. My eyes just didn't seem to focus on his face. However, this time, I forced myself to focus on his big, lumpy nose, and then a little higher in the eyes.

No, not _eyes_.

There is just one eye. One large, calf-brown eye with thick eyelashes was located right in the middle of his forehead.

"He's a…" I stammered.

"A baby Cyclops," Annabeth offered to fill in the next part of my sentence. "Tyson is probably one of the homeless orphans."

"Huh?" My reaction was something very intelligent.

"They live in almost every big city that you can name of." Annabeth drawled out her quiet voice in disdain. "They are…_mistakes_, Kat. Children of nature spirits and gods…well, _one_ god in particular, usually…and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one got here, but obviously he likes you. We should bring this issue to Chiron and let him decide what to do."

"But the fire…how…"

"He is a Cyclops." Annabeth paused, as if she was remembering something unpleasant. "They are supposed to work in the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. They're _monsters._"

Just then, back at the ping pong table where everybody was sat, several people gasped, but soon the silence was replaced by snickers. We looked back, and all I could do was stare in disbelief at the brilliant green light that was about to change my life—a dazzling holographic image that had appeared above everyone. That was probably intended for the newcomer in our group.

My stomach did a flip-over as I let Annabeth's words sink in. _Well, one god in particular…_

Swirling over Tyson was a glowing green trident—the same symbol that appeared above my head when Poseidon sired me not so long ago. _No, no, no…this is not happening…this isn't possible. How…?_

Tyson shot me a warm yet expectant smile, as if he had hoped…expected this to happen for quite a long time, causing me to shiver ever so slightly, "Sister!."he cried happily.

That night, I actually volunteered to go on border-patrol duty, a new post Chiron had established as he feared that the barrier was weakening, they needed someone out there patrolling the perimeter. It wasn't a very nice post. It was lonely, dark and cold, but I still volunteered, because I didn't want to go back to my cabin just yet. I had a monster for a half-brother. _And really, it would be quite hard for anyone to sleep tight with that knowledge in mind. _

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My ears perked up at a slight rustling sound in the distance, so I drew my ball point pen quietly, stood up, and stretched myself. The wound in my ankle had long been healed by the nectar, so now I should have no problem in defending myself against any monster. (Well, minus the bronze bulls this morning, because I had to admit…I couldn't have taken that thing down without help…) Still, I felt a tiny bit of uneasiness as I gave Thalia's tree one last pat before another round around the perimeter. I had the conch horn in my hand, ready to sound a loud blast if need be.

The noise turned out to be a false alarm, because there weren't any monsters, but something on the muddy surface instantly made my instincts , I studied the ground and tried to recall the tracking lessons Chiron had once taught.

There were a few human footprints going in zigzag formations, and they are definitely bigger than mine. And the formation…It's just like someone doing this confusing pattern on purpose…

I broke into a run back to Thalia's tree. Our boundaries are weak, yes, but with the tree still there, there might be a chance that we can set the magic boundary back up, if given enough time. However, as I approached said tree, my heart sank. _Oh no…_the sound had been a distraction to get me away from the tree. A chance for someone to further weaken the barriers! I cursed and ran as fast as possible towards the tree. I was too late. I could see that the leaves were turning yellow at a visible rate. Some of the leaves have already fallen onto the ground. A hole, the size of a bullet-wound was located on the side of the tree, allowing sticky, green goo to drip out slowly. _Poison!_ It definitely wasn't there when I left less than twenty minutes ago.

I blew the conch horn and yelled: "Everybody up! We have a Code Red perimeter breach! The tree is com..."My mouth was suddenly covered up with a gloved hand, so the rest of my sentence was muffled and barely audible.

Panic surged through me as I instinctively elbowed the abdomen of my attacker. He let out a yelp and quickly released me from the head-lock position. I twirled on my heels, sword at ready, but was surprised when I saw who it was. _Impossible._

"Luke?" I gasped, rubbing my sore throat and neck. "What are you doing here?!"

"Yes, it's me indeed." Luke seemed to be way too happy to see me again, "Turns out that you are not the only half-blood who is hard to kill."

"Where-"

"Now, now, so I look like I am in a gaming mood?" He smirked, and drew out his weapon. It was a new sword. In the light of the moon, it seemed to shimmer different colors…steel and bronze…_but that's forbidden, of course…_

"Meet Backbiter, my new sword. Half celestial-bronze, half steel, kills mortals and gods at the same time. This sword is made up of the same material as the one that is wielded by Lord Kronos himself."

"Kro-You joined him, didn't you?" I blurted out.

"The point is, Katniss, you should have joined him as well. You should have listened to him when he talked to you in your dreams." Luke's smirked and snapped his fingers and a hole appeared in the ground. Out crawled something glistening black, about the size of my hand…a scorpion.

"I wouldn't bother to use your pen if I were you," Luke's dropped his friendly façade and his voice dripped with venom, "Pit scorpions can move a lot faster than you, girl. Once you are bitten, you have sixty seconds before you die."

"Luke, what-"

Then it hit me. That was the final part of the prophecy that was given out to me so long ago that I almost forgot… _You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._

"I saw a lot out there in the world during the past few months of life outside camp. Can't you feel it, Katniss? The darkness is gathering, the monsters are growing stronger day by day. Don't you realize how useless this all is? All of this!" He gestured furiously towards the training field and camp in general, "It all resulted in us being pawns of the gods. They should have been over thrown thousands of years ago, but they have hung on, thanks to us." Luke stared me straight in the eyes and continued with his speech, "We use to be wrongdoings of the gods, Katniss, a by-product of the gods' enjoyment and love affair with mortals. But the time of change is coming, and we can take over their rights to rule! But sadly, you will not be a part of this new Golden Age because you chose took the wrong side by stopping the civil war last year." He stopped to catch his breath.

I was terrified, but I tried not to let it show. "Wow…Nice speech. How long did it take you to write and memorize it?" I faked an incredulous face. _The campers must have heard my horn. They must be coming any minute now…_

Luke glared poisonously at me. "Goodbye, Katniss Everdeen. My _friend…"_ He put extra emphasis on the last word and walked into a black portal, and the scorpion leapt up, bit me in the palm, sending me into a painful darkness.

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I woke up the next morning in the infirmary. Groggily, I opened my eyes and found several people talking in a serious tone.

"The sampling of tree sap showed that the poison was elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus." I could hear Annabeth whisper matter-of-factly.

"Who would do this?" Another younger camper chimed in.

"Someone with direct access to Tartarus of course…" This was the annoyed voice of Mr. D, our camp director. Apparently last night's attacks had somehow disturbed him from his beauty-sleep, because he sounds quite grumpy and pissed.

"Well, at least we can rule out Katniss. She is a good kid, she cannot be the one who poison the tree and knocks herself out." Chiron said, completely ignoring the fact that I was right there in the room and listening.

"It was Luke." I rasped, grimacing at my sore throat and the bitter after-tastes of medicine that was left in my mouth. The cabin leaders, Chiron and Mr. D all turned to me at once. Chiron smiled gently when he saw I was awake.

"Don't accuse other campers so harshly when you don't have any proof." Mr. D waved his hand dismissively.

"I saw him. He was there, and he called out the scorpion from the ground. He admitted to me that he worked for Kronos." I explained, greatly straining my voice box, "Please, you have to believe me, I was present."

"But Luke would never do such a thing!" Annabeth insisted. _Ah, yes…Annabeth had a crush on Luke, I remembered that…_

"Yes…Why would he do that, Katie?" drawled Mr. D, who said my name wrong _again_. "You say it was Kronos…in that case, wouldn't it be someone…connected to Kronos? Certain…ties that bind the person to Kronos?"

I didn't know what he was hinting at, but Chiron and Annabeth apparently caught it at once. Annabeth's face turned red with indignation, while Chiron stomped his foot angrily. "What are you getting at, Mr. D?" asked Chiron in a dangerously low voice.

Mr. D shrugged innocently, "It may or may not be true, but you know how suspicious Father is. He is furious that someone may want to kill his daughter."

"Then by your reasoning, shouldn't Zeus, Poseidon and Hades come under suspicion too? They are his son!" Annabeth hissed in hostility.I fought the urge to back away. My best friend could be _really _scary at times.

Then suddenly, they were interrupted by a loud shout. "Sister!" Tyson ran into the infirmary and seemed delighted that I was awake. "You are not dead! That is good!" He laughed. I couldn't help smiling at his enthusiasm. He evidently cared a lot for me.

Mr. D frowned at the intrusion. _This was supposed to be a classified meeting after all. _He turned to Chiron and Annabeth. "Let's continue this discussion somewhere else." They walked out of the infirmary, leaving me alone with my…brother.

He seemed very happy that I was awake, and showed me a new tool belt that one of the demigods from Cabin 9 had given him. The Hephaestus kids were one of the few cabins that had no problem with Tyson. Charles Beckendorf especially took a liking to him and had been teaching him to craft magic items. If you didn't stare at his single eye, it would seem as though he was just a normal teenager. He stayed by my side, talking with me happily. I had to admit, I was starting to become fond of him…

~_A day later~_

"He's gone, Kat. Chiron is gone." Annabeth sighed in exasperation.

I had trouble trying to process that sentence. _Chiron? Gone? But why? The camp just wouldn't feel the same without Chiron…_

"Why? What happened?" I asked incredulously. I had only been discharged from the infirmary this morning, so I was still trying to catch up with the things that happened. "How could he be gone?"

Annabeth's face became bitter. I backed away a bit. "Mr. D suspected him of being the one that poisoned the tree. Despite his protests, He was taken to Olympus under 'house arrest'. The whole camp tried to help him, but he was taken away this morning."

I stood up resolutely and headed towards the door. "We have to go visit him."

Annabeth pulled me back. "You can't, Kat. We can't. Mr. D posted a notice this morning forbidding any campers from leaving the camp. The reason he gave was because of the increased monster attacks and the weakened barrier. No one can leave without permission."

I started pacing around the room. "But we have to _do _something!" My head snapped up as I suddenly got an idea. "A quest. We need a quest. A quest to find a cure…"

Annabeth's eyes misted over, like they always did when her brain started going a million miles an hour. I left her to it. I had something _interesting _to do. I knew it would be forbidden by Mr. D, the prick who ALWAYS messes up people's names, but something told me that if I didn't do this, the camp would fail. A whisper in my dreams…but it wasn't the evil voice I had heard before. I was sure this was the right decision. And I was already in the Big House, and Mr. D wasn't here. What better opportunity would I get?

I went back to the nightmarish place which I remembered saying I would never willingly go again…_desperate times, desperate measures._

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I ran back out of the cellar, heart pounding. I really, really hated the Oracle. I mean, it was useful for dispensing _riddles _that often _came true_, and it must have been very helpful. But did it have to be a mummy? Why can't it be some lively teenager…?

Annabeth caught me at the bottom of the stairs. "KATNISS EVERDEEN! WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!" she screamed at me. "DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW _DANGEROUS _THAT WAS?!"

I stood there for five minutes, watching my best friend with interest as she continued ranting. Old habits die hard, and I soon tuned her out, watching as she waved her arms and gestured angrily. _It's not too that dangerous, I was just consulting the Oracle. _When she finally ran out of breath, she punched me in the gut. It hurt, but I could tell she pulled it. "Don't ever do that again, Seaweed Brain. Don't go out of my sight again, please."

I tried to contain my excitement. "I got a prophecy, Annie! We are to go on a quest!"

She stood there in shock. _Ha. It's not often the daughter of Athena is speechless. I wish I had a camera…_Finally she found her voice. "That's great, Katniss, because I had just figured out what we are after." She picked up the Greek Book of Myths from the table and flipped it open to a specific page. I stared at the title, dumbfounded. It said _**The Legend of the Golden Fleece.**_

Oh, this was going to be _so _much fun…

_You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone_

_And find the cure to the girl that once fell alone_

_The trident, the owl, and the spear shall stand together_

_To face the one-eyed enemy that you once call brother_

_Truth will be revealed about the snake in the grass_

_The innocent one returns and the danger shall pass_

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**This is alone on the water Hello, peoples of the earth! I come in peace! All I ask in return is more reviews! And as for the guests who reviewed, please do include a name so that I can properly address you in the next chapter...Thanks for your cooperation!**


	9. Chapter 9 On our way

**Author's Notes: Hello, everyone! I am back with another update of this awesome story! This time, I am very glad to see that the hit count has increased and people are leaving good reviews behind! So, um…hope you enjoy this chapter and here are some answers to the reviewers from the last chapter!**

**Kimberly: You can make reviews in however way you see fit. All I am asking is more reviews…You know, the kind of reviews on what people think will happen next, or any type of interactions between the writer and the readers…it's nice to know that you are still reading my story. Thanks for your interest!**

**Tanner: Yeah, I am trying to update every other day, but maybe sometimes I won't be able to keep up on that schedule because of my beta…glares daggers at Pjcrazy **

**(HEY!I resent that statement! I have a busy schedule!)**

**Anyway, there is going to be other Hunger Games characters coming into the story in the future, so be patient and wait for it! Thanks for your interest in my story!**

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_You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone_

_And find the cure to the girl that once fell alone_

_The trident, the owl, and the spear shall stand together_

_To face the one-eyed enemy that you once call brother_

_Truth will be revealed about the snake in the grass_

_The innocent one returns and the danger shall pass_

The following night brought about a demigod nightmare just as bad as any other, if not worse.

_I was standing in a beautiful island. The island was carpeted with soft green grass and dotted with tall fruit trees. Large herds of sheep grazed on the grass. The only thing that ruined the peaceful image was the huge, dark cave in the cliff and the dark, forbidding ravine spanned by a flimsy rope bridge. I continued to take in the sights, wondering where exactly I was. Strong nature magic was at work here, very strong. After a few more moments of walking around, I spotted the source. A mass of shining, glittering wool hung from a branch of a tree, literally radiating energy. The Golden Fleece. I walked closer, hoping for a closer look, but was rudely interrupted. A figure appeared in front of me, wielding a bronze and steel blade. Luke. There was a maniacal grin on his face. But when he opened his mouth to address me, the voice that came out did not belong to Luke at all._

"_If it isn't the little heroine, on her way to another victory…" the cold, cruel voice of Kronos cooed with an impressively soft tone. I wanted to draw Riptide and strike him down, or maybe put an arrow between his eyes. But I couldn't move. Even if I could, how could I kill something that had already been destroyed—chopped up into a million pieces and cast into eternal darkness?_

"_Don't let me stop you," the time titan drawled out slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, "Perhaps this time, when you fail, you will wonder if it was worthwhile to be a slave of the gods. How exactly has the Olympians show their appreciation lately except to take away your teacher whom you admire so greatly?" He stopped to take a breath and continued: "It is really funny how things work. The gods have trusted Chiron for centuries, yet he is first to come under suspicion when problems arise. What makes you think that you are safe from this fate? Only last year, the gods suspected you of stealing the Lightning Bolt, didn't they? The gods are faithless and unreliable."_

"_Leave me alone." I managed weakly._

"_Oh, yes, I will leave you alone." Kronos laughed, and the sound was like a blade scraping across stone, "In a couple of weeks your camp will be overrun. With your teacher gone, what can you do to stop Luke from calling my life force out of the pit?"_

"_LEAVE ME ALONE!" I sucked in a breath and yelled with all my might._

_Just then, the scene changed. I was standing in a beautiful valley. There was a cluster of magnificent buildings built onto the side of the valley beside a roaring waterfall. I am positive that I have never been here before, or I would definitely have remembered it, yet something inside me relaxed to the familiar feeling of home. I stopped at the biggest building in the valley. It was a big house, and very peculiar. Brown, tiled rooftops were completed with white, carved pillars, making this whole place taste of Ancient Greece. Annabeth would have loved this architecture. It seems that every corner I turned on, I could discover something new. I walked along one of the passageways and ended up on a high garden above the steep banks of the river. Shadows had fallen in the valley below, but there was still a light on the faces of the mountains far above. The whole compound was built like a fortress, yet it was relaxing enough for a person to come and soothe his mind. Time doesn't seem to pass here, it just does._

"_Meleth nín," someone said, "Mae g'ovannen."The voice sounded familiar, and the language… [My love, welcome]_

_Before I could protest and demand that he speak in English, my mouth opened and began to speak out of my control: "Iston i nîf lîn, mi van me?" [I know your face, where are we?]_

"_Avo drasto," that voice said, although somehow I just knew that he did not answer my question directly, "Savo amdir. __Losto vê__." [Don't worry, have hope. Sleep well.]_

And with that, I somehow fell into a deep dreamless sleep. Maybe some magic is at work…

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The next morning, I had already decided I needed to do something before the whole situation here gets worse. I glanced at the clock at got a shock. _Oh Styx. I overslept! Annabeth would be furious!_ Frantically, I got up from my bed, quickly dressed and did the morning routines, hurriedly packed some clothes and a bag of sugar cubes for Blackjack, and slipped on a pair of shades. Tyson watched curiously as I ran frenetically around the cabin and throwing stuff into my bag. His voice stopped me before I stepped out of the cabin.

"Where are you going, sister?" his voice was filled with genuine concern.

"I am…uh…going to do something personal…brother…" I lied.

"I am coming with you!" He clapped his hands gleefully.

"I am going to see Chiron." I sighed, "You know, the pony-man?" I chuckled as the last word slipped out of my mouth. Tyson was obsessed with ponies. To him, a Pegasus was a chicken pony, a hippocampus was a fish pony, and Chiron was a pony man. I privately thought it was cute "He is uh…being contained by bad people."

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Obviously the gods don't like the description of "bad people", but I decided to roll my eyes and ignore it. From what I saw last year, Zeus was a just a melodramatic windbag.

Just then, Annabeth stormed into the room. "Katniss what are you doing? If we are going to see Chiron without having to knock out all the guards with sedative, we should have gotten on Blackjack, like _three hours ago_!" Her sharp eyes took in my disheveled appearance and my hastily packed bag, and her eyes narrowed. "You overslept, didn't you?"

When I shuffled towards her, Tyson followed. Annabeth narrowed her eyes in complete disgust. "What is her doing here? We are definitely not taking him."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Annabeth beat me to it. "You know what the prophecy said, Katniss. He could very well be the enemy we are going to fight against!" she said, completely ignoring the fact that Tyson was still in the room.

"Tyson can go," I insisted, "if he wants to."I didn't care what the other campers thought. I had grown fond of the little Cyclops. He was literally the little brother I never had.

"WANT TO!" He bellowed with a voice so loud that the entire cabin was resonating.

"But Tyson, you are too heavy for the Pegasus to carry, so I will need you to wait for us back here at camp. We will come back as soon as possible ok? I promise." I squeezed his hands in reassurance and ran off to the stables.

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_Blackjack, are you there? _I tried to broadcast the thought to the stable. This telepathic connection thing was still quite awkward to me… It was kind of tricky trying to have a mental conversation.

_Yes boss? Blackjack at your service. _As always, her voice was tinted with humor. Blackjack was a very cheerful horse, and fun to be with. Sorry, _Pegasus._ Lately, she had taken to calling me "boss", a habit she had picked up from some other pegasi. Oh well, at least it was better than "Lord"…

_Can you take the two of us to Olympus, girl? _I asked, rubbing her neck, which I knew she loved. _I promise I'll get you a bag of sugar cubes._

Blackjack snorted indignantly. _Kat, I've trained all my life for this. Heck, I can carry __**three **__to Olympus, no problem. Just have that bag of sugar cubes ready._

I grinned at her and stroked her again. _All right, let's go._ I saddled her and loaded our stuff onto her saddlebags, and then Annabeth and I slowly led her out of the camp, not wanting to risk flying so soon. I allowed Blackjack to trot towards the gates of the camp, and decided that we would take off from there. However, Clarisse saw us and raised her spear menacingly.

"Nobody goes out of borders without Mr. D's permission." She stated matter-of-factly, glaring at us.

I scoffed."Since when did you care about Mr. D's _permission?"_

"Clarisse, please, it is for the good of the camp." Annabeth said softly, surreptitiously stepping on my foot. Knowing her, she'll probably try to give me some lessons about human interactions the moment we were alone.

Clarisse's glare never wavered. Her stupid electric spear was pointed at us. "No one leaves the camp. Not even you, Ariel, or you, owl head." She said derisively.

I lost my temper then. _This name-calling was getting us nowhere, and we do need to hurry up if we want to see Chiron. _I stormed up to her, right in front of her and started yelling at her. "Listen here, Clarisse. The camp borders are failing. Chiron is gone. Mr. D is doing _nothing, _while we are actually trying to do _something!_ If no one does anything, the tree will die, and our camp will be overrun with monsters! So the way I see it, you have two choices. Fight us and lose, or help us. Do you understand?!" I snarled. I wasn't exactly yelling, but I think she got the point. After all, I did defeat her father on Olympus…

Clarisse glared further at me for a long moment. Then she sighed and lowered her spear. "I believe you. No one has ever dared to stand up to me like that before." A brief smile played on her face. "I'll let you go, on one condition."

_Uh, oh…_

"You," she pointed at me. "I am coming with you."

_Oh Styx._

She seemed to be able to read my thoughts, as smirked triumphantly. "If you don't, I'll blow this horn over here and everyone will know that you are trying to escape. Your horse… (_I am a Pegasus! _Grumbled Blackjack) here can carry one more, right?

I didn't want to take her along. I didn't really like Ares, much less his kids. I glanced at Annabeth hopefully. Maybe she'll knock some sense into that thick skull of hers.

Annabeth sighed. "_The trident, the owl and the spear shall stand together." _She quoted reluctantly. "I suppose we have no choice."

Clarisse grinned and ran back to her cabin to pack up.

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We arrived at Olympus pretty quickly. After we had arrived, we dismounted and unloaded our stuff. I patted Blackjack's nose gently and fed her a bag of sugar cubes. _You deserved these. Now go back to Camp Half Blood, okay? I don't want to risk anyone recognizing you. We'll take the elevator down._ Blackjack nuzzled my arm playfully and flew off into the sky.

We wandered around Olympus cautiously, not wanting to draw any unwelcome attention. Luckily, there weren't many gods at this ungodly hour (Ha! Pun intended) of the morning, only the occasional nymph. We didn't know where Chiron was being kept, so we decided to ask for directions _discreetly, _which meant Clarisse and I had to shut up and let Annabeth do all the talking. A friendly _nebula,_ a cloud nymph, kindly gave us the directions to Chiron's house. Soon, we had arrived.

"Who's there?" asked a weary voice from the kitchen. Chiron was busy chopping up some fruits for breakfast. My heart ached to hear him sound so tired.

"It's me, Katniss. Clarisse and Annabeth are here with me." I ventured hesitantly.

"Hey, my children! It's so nice to see you again." Chiron trotted out of the house with a huge, pleasant smile.

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To make a long story short, Chiron didn't want to tell us anything initially. But after hearing about my dream and the prophecy, he finally gave in and told us the real story of the Fleece:_ T__here were these two children of Zeus, __called __Cadmus and Europa. They were about to get offered up as human sacrifices, when they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool, which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor. Well, actually it carried Cadmus__ because__ Europa fell off and died along the way. When Cadmus got to Colchis, he sacrificed the golden ram to the gods and hung the Fleece in a tree in the middle of the kingdom. The Fleece brought prosperity to the land. __Animals were no longer sick.__ Plants grew better. Farmers had bumper crops. Plagues never visited. That's why __everybody__ wanted the Fleece. It can revitalize any land where it's placed._ When I described the island in my dreams, Chiron grew uneasy and started to pace up and down the room. "That island, my girl, is situated in the sea of monsters and the mortals refer to it as the Bermuda Triangle." I had to admit, I shivered a bit at that part. _Monsters are on my home turf, and…there is an entire sea of them__?_

We talked for hours. It felt so good, so normal to be able to just talk with the centaur that i had come to regard as a friend and mentor. We had to hide in the closet when one of the nymphs came in for room service, but no matter, we still snuck out of the house without being seen by the guards.

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As we walked along the narrow walkway back towards the elevator, we talked about unnecessary stuff like fashion and clothes so that people who pass by us will only think that we were some random demigod kids. It was awkward, really, because although we are all girls, none of us pay attention to our looks by that much, unlike those Aphrodite kids at camp. Just when we thought we were safe from the prying eyes of the gods, someone from behind put a hand on my shoulder and said in a level, emotionless voice: "Well, you look like you could use some help there."

The last person to touch me from behind was a hostile (cough*Luke*cough), so my battle instincts kicked in as I quickly notched an arrow, pulled my bow to full strength, and spun on my heel. Almost just as quickly, Annabeth drew her knife and Clarisse yanked her hairpin which snapped into a spear.

"Whoa! Easy people, it's just me."Turns out, it was just a regular guy in a ridiculous business suit. If he weren't so alive and healthy, I might even mistake him for my old friend Charon. This guy in front of me, however, looked disturbingly familiar, although I could not quite place who he was at the moment.

He tried to speak, but a cell phone went off in his pocket. "I've got to take this, just wait a sec. He pulled out his phone and my eyes got big, because the whole thing glowed with a bluish light. When he extended the antenna, two creatures began to slither around it: two, earthworm-sized green snakes.

"Hello?" The business man waited for a few seconds before continuing: "I know, but…I don't care if he is chained to a rock with vultures pecking at his intestines…if he doesn't have a tracking number, we can't locate his package…a gift to mankind…yeah, yeah, you know how many of those stuff we deliver…get him to Eris in Customer Service, I have a serious meeting to attend to." And with that, he hung up.

The business man shot us an apologetic look. "Sorry, the Big H overnight express business is just booming. Now, as I was saying—"

"You have snakes on your phone." I blurted out.

"What? Oh, they don't bite. Say hello, George and Martha."

_Hello, George and Martha. _A raspy male voice sounded in my head I tried not to laugh at how he called himself by two different names.

"You are an interesting group, what do you plan to do now with your quest?" The business man looked at the three of us and said.

Before I could answer, a female voice came out, and this must be Martha. _I have Demeter on line two._

"Tell her to leave a message."

_She said it was urgent._ Martha pressed on.

"Then leave it urgently."

"Who are you exactly?" I nervously stroke the feathers on the tail of my arrow.

But the business man just said in a playful tone: "I am a little bit disappointed that you did not recognize me, we did meet at the council last summer…"

"Lord Hermes!"I ransacked my brain and finally came up with the correct name. I knelt, just like Annabeth and Clarisse, but all my brain could think of was that maybe I should buy stamps from him._ Ah, the ADHD is back in action._

Hermes commanded the two snakes to open their mouths and took out two packages. One was a stainless steel canister, a thermos with a black plastic top. The sides of the thermos were enameled with red and yellow drawings and tiny Greek letters. He said, "You twist the cap off this; you release the winds from the four corners of the world." Annabeth took the canister in her hand and started to twist, but Hermes yelped "Not in here!" so she twisted it back and made sure that nothing leaked out.

The other gift was a bottle of chewable vitamins. They came in the shapes of Minotaurs, Furies and Hydras._ Quite a hilarious combination, if you ask me._ Hermes just simply told us that we needed to take one only when we really need it, and then flashed out in a shower of golden light, leaving behind four sacks, each containing mortal money and gold drachmas. _Huh, wonder why he did not give us three..._

"Demigods, all I ask from you in return," The voice of Hermes resonated in our minds even after he teleported himself out of the room, "is to talk some sense into Luke, my son. Please let him know that I will never give up on him. No matter what happens, one should never give up on family."

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At the ground floor of the Empire State Building, we got a surprise. Tyson was sitting in the waiting area fiddling around with a bunch of tools and mechanical bits. Apparently, he had gotten bored and lonely waiting for me at Camp and decided to come looking for me himself. _Wonder how he travelled such a long way…_Obviously, the doorman wouldn't let him in, so he had been sitting here waiting for me. When he saw me, his single brown eye lit up with joy. "Sister, you are finally here!"

Annabeth had been really unhappy, but finally she grudgingly decided to let him come along the quest. "But I'm going to keep an eye on him. Once a monster, always a monster." she hissed before storming off. Tyson looked about ready to cry. _But really, what can you do in these situations?_

We debated over the mode of transportation we were going to take to Florida. I was strictly against flying, and we were a little bit underage for driving. Clarisse solved the problem by using one of her cooler privileges as daughter of the war god. According to her, the losing party in every war has a tribute to Ares. She prayed for help and got us a sleek WWII submarine manned by ghostly soldiers. The CSS Birmingham. Once we were in the water, i used my powers to further propel us along, and soon we were set on a course straight towards the mysterious Bermuda Triangle.

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"Wake up, seaweed brain! We are close to an island. Maybe we can pick up some supplies there if we ask nicely." Annabeth scowled and shook me awake, ignoring my mumbling protests.

I sat up. Sure enough, there was a line of blue and brown in the distance. Another minute and I could make out an island with a small mountain in the centre, a dazzling white collection of buildings, a beach dotted with palm trees, and a harbor filled with a strange assortment of boats.

As soon as we surfaced and moored to the shore, a lady with the clipboard greeted us with a dazzling smile. She looked like a flight attendant, wearing a set of blue suits, perfect makeup, hair pulled back in a ponytail. She shook our hands one by one as we stepped out of our submarine, but her eyes seem to twitch slightly as Tyson took her hand.

The place was amazing. There was white marble and blue water everywhere I looked. Terraces climbed up the side of the mountain, with swimming pools on every level, connected by watersides and waterfalls and underwater tubes you could swim through. Fountains sprayed water into the air, forming impossible shapes, like flying eagles and galloping horses.

We came into a big room where the whole front wall was covered by windows. The back wall was covered in mirrors, so the room seemed to go on forever. The furniture looked expensive, and on a table in the corner was a large pet cage.

The owner of the room was weaving some kind of tapestry on an extra-large loom, and seemed genuinely pleased to see us. We introduced ourselves, and were told that her name was C.C.

She examined us with a disapproving look. Immediately, I felt bad. Somehow, I felt that it was necessary to please this lady. She assigned each of us girls to one of her attendants, and told us to wait patiently in the dressing room. She would speak with us after "having a talk with this young gentleman", meaning Tyson. I didn't really want to leave Tyson alone, but my attendant, Hylla, was already pulling me out of the room.

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**Um, yeah, that's another chapter right there. Leave reviews and tell me what you think! More reviews mean a faster update! Until next update, folks!**


	10. Chapter 10 Another Piece in the Games

**Hello! It's me again, Pjcrazy, the most awesome beta on the site! I am very proud to present you… the next chapter! I am sure glad to see more people are reading this, as it is as much my story as AOTW's. I have to say I have really enjoyed collaborating with her on this story, even if it meant talking till midnight discussing the story or letting her flood me with chapters to edit and write.**

**And, in case you are wondering…Percy Jackson will be in the story, though not in the role you might expect…**

**Alone on the water: Hey! You were not supposed to reveal that!**

**Pjcrazy: (sticks out tongue.) Well, you told me to write the Author's Notes. I can do what I want! So there!**

**Alone on the water: (fumes silently)**

**Pjcrazy:****So anyway, here is the exciting next chapter of Katniss' adventures! Enjoy and review!**

**Alone on the water: REMEMBER TO REVIEW, OR I SHALL SMITE THEE WITH THE MIGHTY POWER OF THE KEYBOARD!**

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Well, after a long, detailed tour of the island, I must say that the island was amazing. There was an enormous, complex-looking library which contained books on almost every known subject. Sure enough, Annabeth squealed in delight, refused to move forward even one single step, pouted and pleaded until her attendant, Reyna, agreed to let her stay there. As for Clarisse, naturally she stopped at the armory. Her fingers glided over the sharp edges of the blades and spears with a wide grin of satisfaction, but immediately started to lash out at the poor attendant when her she tried to start the makeover. We could still hear her scream and yell about how unlawful it is for anyone to be fitted within the piece of cloth known as "dress" half an hour later. _Man, that girl has lungs._

When we walked out of the armory, I noticed some women lying on the side of the swimming pool, sunbathing. Some of them even had glasses of champagne in their hands and they most certainly look quite relaxed. I quickly swallowed the thought of requesting my own glass of that fizzy liquid, muttered and reminded myself that I was still quite a bit under drinking age, when I suddenly realized something strange. There were women, yes, that's right. But not a single man was in sight. _I mean, I could believe that a woman can choose to take a vacation without bringing their male relatives with them, but fifty women do this at the same time and chose come to the same place? What are the freaking chances of that?_

"This is a SPA, Katniss." My attendant Hylla said smoothly, as if she had read my mind and knew what I was going to ask next. "Men don't pay that much attention to their appearance as us girls do, so most of our male customers just simply walk out in frustration whenever their girlfriends decides to come by and visit. At least…that's what Miss C.C tells me." My worries quickly dissipated and we continued on walking to the next destination.

The room was beautiful, decorated with blue and green wave patterns just like the sea. I instantly sat down in the comfortable bean-bag in the middle of the room, and Hylla dragged a mirror out from some hidden trapdoors and placed it in front of me.

She walked around me in a circular fashion, frowning and grinning and planning my ultimate make-over, when finally she said: "Right, how about we try this."

She waved her hand, allowing a sky-blue curtain to drape over her mirror. When the curtain was raised again, I looked into the mirror, and saw…me.

Well, it was me, of course, that's what mirrors are used for, but… that's not exactly me. It was more like KATNISS 2.0, a more advanced, more desirable version of me. In the vision, I was taller, with a dazzling smile and a perfect olive skin. My teeth were straight and white. As for my hair, instead of the simple ponytail that I have always wore, it was braided into one long, thick French-braid that started from the back of my head, went around my shoulder, and ended up on the front side of my body. The braid itself looked sporty, rebellious, and powerful

"This is magnificent." I breathed,

Hylla smiled and her hands started to get to work. As she worked, we chatted and became good friends. She was a nice girl and fun to be with. The time passed pretty quickly.

Two hours later, I was more than pleased to see all the visions in the mirror had come true. Hylla helped me into an ocean-blue long dress that reached the ground, and my old squeaky sneakers were replaced with a pair of matching high-heels. It was indeed a bit awkward at first, but soon I got used to it, packed up my old clothes, and followed Hylla to a chamber to meet my friends. Annabeth was dressed in a white, sleeveless short dress, which suited her grey eyes pretty well; while Clarisse looked absolutely miserable in a fiery red one. Don't get me wrong, the dress suits her personality, but knowing her, she is probably mentally crying and kicking herself for this overly girly piece of garment. The island was beautiful, and its service excellent, but still…the three of us agreed on the fact that the existence of this SPA in the middle of the sea of monsters was weird, and we decided to leave with Tyson the next morning. Briefly, I wondered how Tyson was getting on before I fell asleep.

The dream that night was quite weird. Guinea pigs the size of human beings chased me over quite a long distance, then one of the guinea pigs overtook me, and it had only one eye. Slowly, it transformed into…_Tyson?!_ Before I could say anything, everything went black, and in the darkness, numbers written in a ghostly-white ink danced before my eyes. _30, 31, 75, 12…_

I wondered what they meant, but I was sure it was important, so I filed it away to the deep corners of my brain.

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When Tyson didn't show up for breakfast the next morning, I got really worried. There were so many of things that could happen to a young, innocent cyclops who happened to be my half-brother. Fortunately we changed back to the normal clothes when we settled in on our beds last night so when I started to scratch around out of worry and ADHD, I only ripped some gashes on the old clothes, which were already old and torn anyway.

Together, we explored the island, but we found absolutely no sign of him, which was really weird. Tyson was usually so impossible to miss. Hylla and Reyna pitched in to help search for a while, but they soon had to leave to attend to their own duties. Then, I saw C.C walking towards an inconspicuous building, walking slowly, as if she is trying to avoid being seen. We quietly sneaked up to the window of the building and saw her enter a room filled with…

Guinea pigs, there was an entire roomful of guinea pigs. Instantly, I remembered the dream from last night. _Could it be…? _The tiny rodents scurried around in an enormous cage, and were squeaking angrily. They came in almost every color you could imagine, and the size varied greatly as well. However, there was one of them in particular, a particularly big one with…only one eye.

All the while, Annabeth had been muttering furiously under her breath, trying to figure out where we were when she suddenly gasped and looked up. "We need to get out of here, like, right NOW. It's Circe the witch!" Annabeth covered my mouth with her hands before I could yell out Tyson's name. I looked at her with a glare to tell her that we are not leaving Tyson behind, but the all of a sudden…

"Well now…Have you been wicked, girls? Why aren't you relaxing in the spa?" we whirled around to find Circe standing behind us, hands on her hips with a rolled-up whip in her hand. A team of attendants surrounded us with their hands raised, as if ready to cast a spell. And Circe was right at the centre of the formation, clearly the leader of the group.

We took out our respective weapons, but Circe laughed. "Do you really think that your weapons can defeat our magic?" She smirked, voice dripping with venom. "That," she gestured towards the room filled with guinea pigs, "is how men should be treated. They are pigs, and they do not deserve to live as human beings. They just unlocked their inner potential, like you. You three all have the potential to become great sorceresses, so put down your weapons and join us."

Annabeth muttered something about how untrustworthy witches are, and this of course angered Circe, so she and her attendants released bolts of colorful energy at us. _We do seem to have a major talent of ticking people off…_

Seeing this, I instinctively willed all the water within reachable distance to condense around us, forming a shield. The bolts bounced off the shield harmlessly, but the action of forming the shield took away an incredible amount of energy, causing me to sink to the ground as if I had just finished a marathon. _There is no way I could hold up another wave of attack, time for some backup planning…_

Annabeth tossed me the bottle of vitamins and I took one without question, soon a wave of relief washed through my veins. One of the attendants hit me with a sizzling green bolt, but the energy just past through my body with no ill effect. Apparently, the vitamins have made me immune to magic! _Thanks Hermes!_

The fight afterwards was really too easy once we got the element of surprise on our side. We used the hilts and butts of our weapons so that we only knock the attendants out instead of murdering them in cold blood. Annabeth threw the bottle of vitamins into the guinea pigs' cage while I tried to keep Circe busy by taunting her and flicking balls of water at her.

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Giving the rodents the vitamins was a REALLY bad move. I never thought that, in certain extreme cases, Circe actually had a legit reason to turn men into rodents. See, Edward Teach, a son of Ares, otherwise known as Blackbeard the Great Pirate, was among the group of rodents, along with quite a few of his crew. As soon as he and his crew members were returned to human form, they immediately went into full-on-barbarian-mode and started to trash at everything in front of their eyes. The four of us, including Tyson, only barely managed to escape with our limbs intact, and we hopped on the nearest ship possible.

I felt horrible for ruining the island paradise. I mean, even though it may have been a witch's lair, there were obviously a lot of innocent women there who were _innocent_. I felt a bit better, though, when we were able to do at least one good deed – rescuing Hylla and Reyna. They were being chased by two pirates. I took out both of them with perfect bulls-eye shots and allowed the sisters to board our ship and sailed out to the sea as fast as we could.

It was only later that I realized we took Blackbeard's ship by mistake, but honestly, that was the least of our problems, _and he deserved it anyway…_

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As for how we ended up in our destination island, of course a lot of help came from yours truly. The set of numbers was indeed quite useful because they served as coordinates, you know, the whole issue with latitudes and longitudes.

It wasn't all smooth sailing, though. We were in the freaking Sea of _Monsters, _and the sea certainly lived up to its name. As if the clashing rocks and Circe's island wasn't enough, for the next three days, monsters just literally appeared out of thin air and attacked us. Sea serpents, giant squids, piranhas, Stymphalian birds (_Did I spell those words right? Ugh! Stupid dyslexia_)… We've probably fought everything in _THE ULTIMATE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MONSTERS_, maybe even alphabetically. We later learned that Reyna and Hylla, being sisters, were daughters of Bellona. They were a great help to those battles because of their ability to handle any weapon and their effectiveness at doing damage to the enemies. They insisted that we drop them off at a random island after we have sailed a considerable distance away from Circe's lair. I was sure that they would be able to make their own way back to the mainland from there. They were tough. _Maybe we will meet again someday…_

As for Tyson, he had been pretty subdued after the guinea pig incident, but he had gradually recovered and returned to his enthusiastic, cheerful self. He spent most of the voyage fiddling with something from his tool belt, so I left him to it.

One of the really harrowing experiences was the sirens. Annabeth insisted on listening to it while the rest of us wore earplugs. I didn't know what the Sirens sang in their music, but after Annabeth cut through her ropes and tried to jump into the sea, I didn't even want to know. _After all, there are quite a few songs from the TOP 100 list that made me want to commit suicide…_ Luckily, Clarisse and Tyson were able to stop her, but one look in her eyes tells me that she wasn't the same Annabeth I knew anymore.

"_Hubris," _Annabeth would so often whisper as we continued our voyage, "_my fatal flaw is hubris, extreme pride and arrogance, over-estimating my powers." _And then, as usual, we would take turns in trying to comfort her, but I could almost see a tiny layer of ice covering her grey eyes. Her mental barrier was building up, slowly but surely. She was beginning to shut us out, and it pained me to see that there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. I could only hope she made the right choice if the time came.

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When you think "Monster Island", the scenery that comes to mind is probably craggy rocks and beaches of bones, but the Cyclops's island was nothing like that. Well, ok, it had a rope bridge and a chasm, which was not a good sign; but, you might as well put up a billboard that said SOMETHING EVIL LIVES HERE to make the place look more dangerous. I mean, the place looked like a freaking Caribbean postcard with green fields and tropical trees and white beaches! It was exactly as I had seen in my dream. There were also flocks of sheep roving around, but I dismissed them as not being important.

"That's the Golden Fleece." Annabeth breathed, with a tone of utter relaxation. I nodded. Although the Fleece is not in sight yet, the power of healing is quite overwhelming. I felt all the bruises and grazes I had accumulated the past three days healing at an incredible rate. _Wow, it was strong._

"This is too easy," Clarisse put on a wide smirk. "What do we do? Just walk up there and take it?"

Annabeth narrowed her eyes: "There's supposed to be a guardian. A dragon or…"

Just then, a growl shook the entire island. Hesitantly, we glanced towards the source, and immediately wished we hadn't. A cyclops at least three times bigger and at least four times uglier than Tyson lumbered over the island. It was dressed only in a furry loincloth and it wielded a club the size of a young tree. And, the word "shower" was probably out of its dictionary. Even from here, I could smell something foul…from both the cyclops itself and the contents of the bucket it was carrying, probably some rotten meat-products. I flinched at the sight of all the sheep gobbling down the entire bucket of meat-mush within two seconds. _Cannibal sheep, huh…_

I turned to Annabeth. "I don't suppose these are the guardians you are talking about?"

Annabeth took a deep breath and leaned over. "Alright, here's the plan." but she never got to tell us the plan, because Tyson took things into his own hands.

"Brother!" Tyson jumped out of the ship, landed on the ground with a thud, and careened towards the older cyclops. My heart leapt into my mouth, but nothing happened. The sheep didn't kill him. _Are they really so picky and only accept Cyclops?_

The other cyclops turned towards the voice. "What? Who is that? Where are you?" _Not a bright cyclops apparently._

"I am your brother! My sister is here too, and also Annie-Beth and War-Girl!" He grinned. "We want to borrow your fleece!"

Annabeth, Clarisse and I share a surprised glance. _Could this actually work?_

"You brought me Half-bloods?" Don't ask me how, but the cyclops seemed to know that we are half-bloods just by hearing our name. "Good! Half Bloods good eating! Thank you, brother!"

Beside me, I felt Annabeth flinch. Her grip on her dagger tightened until her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were squeezed shut, as if trying to ward off an unpleasant memory.

"NO! No eating my friends!" yelled Tyson. "We only want to borrow the fleece!"

The cyclops's face fell when he heard that we were not for eating. "Which one?" he asked, turning to look at his flock. But his eyes seem vacant, almost…blind.

Tyson exclaimed, "The shiny one! We want to take it to save the camp!" He gestured towards us as well.

The cyclops turned to our ship, which had up to now remained unnoticed by him His face turned angrier by the minute."Traitor Brother! Fleece stealer! Shiny Fleece belongs to Polyphemus!" _Polyphemus! The very same cyclops Odysseus had defeated in the _Iliad! He turned to Tyson, and then suddenly whacked him hard in the ribs with his club. I gasped in horror as I heard several ribs cracking, and Tyson flew all the way to the other side of the island.

I screamed Tyson's name and leapt over the side of the ship, wanting to give Polyphemus a piece of my mind, even with Annabeth combined with Clarisse couldn't pull me back. I felt a huge tug in my gut, and suddenly a wave crashed over the island. _Uh, maybe tsunami is the better word to describe it._ The effort to summon this wave was draining and it left me sprawling on the wet beach, but when the water receded, I saw all the piranha sheep floundering in the water, and a very wet, very angry Polyphemus standing on the shore. _Ha._

"Leave him alone! He is your brother!" I yelled with all my remaining strength, "And he…" my voice quavered ever so slightly at what I was about to say next, "he called you his brother…"_What did the prophecy say again? "To face the one-eyed enemy you once call brother"? Is this how the prophecy is going to come true?_

Annabeth shot me an analyzing look, I nodded to her, and she led Clarisse off the ship. As usual, she already had a plan of attack in her mind. She would distract Polyphemus with her invisibility cap, while Clarisse and I went after the fleece. As soon as it was decided, we got to work.

"Hello, ugly!" Annabeth put on her cap and shouted.

"Who said that?" The older cyclops stiffened.

"I am nobody!" Annabeth yelled.

"Nobody…" Polyphemus was finally interested, "I remember you."

"You are too stupid to remember anybody, much less nobody!" Annabeth shot back.

I stifled a giggle. See, the thing is, this "nobody" issue with Polyphemus had existed for a very long time. Right before Odysseus poked the eye out of this cyclops named Polyphemus. Annabeth apparently thought that he would still hold a grudge against that name, and she was quite right about that.

With the "guardian" distracted, taking the Fleece was just way too easy. We finished our job and got back to the ship as quickly as possible. I could only hope that Annabeth got back here as well. Suddenly, a boulder the size of a horse sailed over our ship, barely missing it. More projectiles flew around the ship, splashing into the ocean. Each shot got closer and closer. I realized that he was targeting us through sound, but I wasn't quick enough to stop that loudmouthed Clarisse from yelling out extra insults. Annabeth shimmered into visibility beside us and stuffed her cap into Clarisse's mouth to shut her up, but the damage was done. Polyphemus already knew where we were. He lifted a boulder the size of a house, and I knew this time, he would not miss. _You'd think he'd run out of rocks__ a few seconds ago__..._

We were saved, though, when a rock the size of a basket ball sailed from behind Polyphemus and hit him square on the head, causing him to drop the boulder on himself. Tyson stumbled weakly from behind him, clutching his chest. A weak grin was on his face. "Bad Polyphemus… Not all cyclops as nice as we look."

I admit I cried when I saw him. We had succeeded, and everyone was alive. We draped the fleece over Tyson, where it began its healing work, and set a course for home.

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_Katniss! Boss!_

I ran towards the railings of the ship and looked up at the sky in surprise. There, my faithful Pegasus came galloping towards us and landed gracefully on the ship's deck.

I ran towards her and threw my arms around her neck. _Blackjack!_

She whinnied in pleasure. _Boss, it's great to see you safe. I bring grave news from Camp._

Instantly, my good mood disappeared. I called up Clarisse and Annabeth from their rooms. This wasn't going to be good. _What is it, Blackjack? Has the tree died?_ I asked worriedly.

_Not yet, boss, but soon. Chiron estimates that there might be only three days left." _Blackjack clopped back and forth nervously. _There won't be enough time for you to reach home on that snail ship, Boss._

I knew she was right. Of course, my simple plan was to mount my Pegasus and carry the fleece back to camp. But I didn't. I gave the honor to Clarisse. I had grown to trust her during our trip, and now I entrusted the fleece to her. _Blackjack, could you carry Clarisse back to Camp for me?_

She snorted in surprise._ You mean you're not coming, boss?_

I shook my head. "No." I turned to Clarisse and tossed her the fleece. "Go. Save the camp. We'll catch up."

I wished I had a camera to capture the look of surprise and bewilderment on her face. She swallowed, and took the fleece. "T…thanks, Ariel. I won't fail you." She mounted Blackjack, and after shooting me a grateful look, they took off into the sky.

_See you later, Boss! _

I watched them shrinking rapidly into the distance, wishing so badly to be in the place of Clarisse, but somehow, I knew that I needed to do something way more important. Something felt incomplete somehow…

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As I lost the millionth time in a chess game against Annabeth, I sulked away to Tyson's room below deck in order to distract myself. _You'd think I would remember not to challenge Athena's daughters in some battle-strategy games like chess…_

To my surprise, Tyson gave me a fine-looking watch as present. This was the project that he had been working on for the entire journey. "Thank you, brother." I said, hugging him. I was so touched that he would do this for me.

He smiled proudly, tried to explain something, but a huge boom cut him short, and the whole ship resonated with the shock, just like the sound effects of the WWII movies. _Something was wrong_. The compartments below deck were rapidly filling up with cool seawater. Not that I mind getting wet or anything (because I can't unless I want to), but both me and Tyson knew that this ship wasn't going to last much longer. We exchanged a glance, and split up. Tyson ran towards the possible position of the hole, and I ran back up the deck.

Really, the whole scene was way too similar to the how the pirates attacked innocent fishing boats. The only difference is, the "pirate" ship this time is a beautiful cruise-liner with a screaming princess on the front mast, and somehow the cruise ship just hit us with a war-grade torpedo. Grappling lines were thrown from the cruise ship, and wooden boards were laid on top of the grappling hooks to allow an army of monsters to stomp to our ship. Dracaenae and Laestrygonians, monsters and half-bloods, hell hounds, harpies, and other things I couldn't even name. The whole ship must've been emptied, because there were hundreds of them, quite a decent army if you ask me. And of course, we just had to be overwhelmed. We did fight bravely, I assure you that, but we also sustained some injuries. I tried not to wince as a Scythian Dracaenae scratched a huge gash on my arm and Annabeth got knocked out by a thick stick. I would have chosen to fight to my way out and maybe die in the process of trying, had I not seen Annabeth's prone form being carried onto the ship. _I needed to keep her safe. _I thought to myself, so I dropped Riptide onto the ground, watched it clatter away from my hands, felt it reappear in my pocket, and put both of my hands up in surrender.

"Hey cuz, good to see you again," Luke the-last-person-I-wanted-to-see Castellan grinned when he saw the three of us being herded onto his luxurious deck. Behind him was the shiny, Olympic-sized swimming pool and fountain that many tourists would die for, but all I could think of was to use the water to throw him overboard. Too bad it wouldn't work. There were just too many monsters.

I mustered up the best I-shall-definitely-kill-you-later glare, and blatantly refused to talk to him. A plan was already formulating in my mind. The plan itself was simple enough with the fountain, the drachma in my pocket, the rainbow…Mentally, I smiled. The procedure was simple yet effective, worthy of the goddess Athena herself. _Truth shall be revealed of the snake in the grass, the innocent one returns and the danger shall pass._

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"You poisoned Thalia's tree didn't you?" I tried.

Luke sighed. "Right to the point, eh? Okay, sure, I poisoned the tree, so what?"

"How could you?" Annabeth woke up just a few minutes ago, so she slipped right into our conversation and screamed angrily. "Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonor her?"

"I didn't dishonor her!" Luke snapped, "The gods did, Annabeth! If Thalia was alive, he would be on my side."

"Liar…" Annabeth shook her head.

"If you knew what was coming, you would understand."

"You are a monster!" Annabeth started to sob violently.

Luke shook his head. "The gods have blinded you, Annabeth. Can you imagine a world without them? What good is the ancient history you study? That's just three thousand years of baggage! The West is rotten to its core! It has to be destroyed. Join me, and we can start the world anew. You deserve better than tagging along with those losers." He sneered in my direction. "The camp will be overrun within the month. The remaining demigods will either join us or be annihilated. We could use your intelligence, Annabeth. You are the smartest mortal alive. "

Her grey eyes were changing their shades slightly, and from my experience of living with her for twelve years, I knew that she was starting to get compromised.

Luke noticed too, and a triumphant smile grew on his face. "You always wanted to be an architect, didn't you, Annabeth. This is your chance. This is your chance to rebuild the cities of the world in our images."

Annabeth looked up towards him. A fierce battle seemed to be taking place in her mind. I hurriedly grasped her arm. "No, no, no, Annabeth, listen to me, Listen to me." I said urgently and tried to rock her shoulders. "You have been at Camp for so many years, and Chiron had looked after you as his own child, and you have so many friends back at camp, so many things that you could come back to, are you really going to let all of this go?"

Annabeth put her head in her hands in a frenzy of indecision. Tears leaked. I held her shoulders in my hands, trying to convey my trust in her. I was desperate. Luke had obviously touched on her fatal flaw, that bastard.

"Well…some unplanned dinner entertainment." Our camp director chose this moment to chime in. Normally, I would have been annoyed, but now I was so thankful for his timing. Apparently he had heard the entire message. _Remind me to sacrifice some food to Iris later._

"You heard him, Mr. D." I said out loud. "Chiron is innocent. Luke just said that himself." I stole a glance at Annabeth. She still wouldn't show her face. My heart ached.

"Yes… I suppose so. Camp has been boring without the old horse to play pinochle with me." muttered Dionysus. The entire camp roared with happiness.

Luke snarled and swiped the rainbow with his sword, breaking the connection. He turned to me. "You are so dead right now, Katniss Everdeen." He raised his sword to my throat. "WHERE IS THE FLEECE? Let me have it, and I shall consider letting the three of you live."

I spat at him unceremoniously and laughed: "It is gone. Clarisse took off a few hours ago. There's no way you can get it back now, oh, the golden-retriever for Kronos."

Luke looked like he had been punched. He started backwards, and then his face turned absolutely deadly. He turned to one of the monsters. "Get me a Pegasus, NOW." He then turned to his monsters and gave the order to have us as their next meal.

Riptide sprang up in my hands. "Fight me yourself, coward, old-fashioned one-on-one duel. What are you afraid of?" I let a condescending smile grow on my face.

Luke scoffed. "I am not that easily baited into a fight, Katniss."

"And you keep avoiding one." I smirked. "Are you really that scared of me?" If he refused, he would look weak. If he fought, he would lose time chasing Clarisse. _Yeah, I did trap him. But just another thought, Luke was the best swordsman in three hundred years…um…too late…_

Luke glared at me. "I'll kill you quickly." He drew Backbiter, grabbed a shield from one of his men. _Ah…that might be a problem. _I didn't have a shield, therefore, so I would have more power, but less versatility. "Any last words, Katniss?" his voice was dripping with the lust of blood.

"Luke, at least give her a shield." begged Annabeth. Luke just laughed and ignored her. I turned back towards my friends. Annabeth was looking at the both of us, biting her lip in indecision and worry. She was fingering something cylindrical in her pocket. Tyson kept miming pushing something on his wrist. Could that be a message? I held up my wrist and looked at the watch he had given me. There was a single button on its side. _Heck, why not?_ I pressed it. Instantly, a bronze shield expanded from it, causing the entire ship, including me to gasp in surprise. The shield was light and strong, and perfectly balanced. I turned towards Luke… and lunged.

Even though I had a shield and a sword, Luke was ultimately still the better fighter. I lasted for nearly eight minutes, but finally Luke managed to land a deep cut on my knee, forcing me to kneel down at an awkward position. "My…my Katniss, you've gotten out of practice with your sword, archery girl." He smirked and put his blade to my neck, ready to slice my head off. "Goodbye, Katniss Everdeen."

And that was when Annabeth made her move. Fortunately, seeing Luke about to kill me had forced her to make up her mind. _Oh thank the gods. _She pulled out Hermes' thermos and opened it wide. Luke barely had time to gasp before he and a good part of his army was blown overboard by the power of the four winds. Annabeth struggled to turn it, but she managed to send two-thirds of the monsters to an unexpected swim before the winds ran out.

Tyson ran towards me and unceremoniously dumped me into the swimming pool, allowing the water to heal my wounds. I then walked towards the sides of the ship. _Father, we now have no transport. Could you please…arrange something for us?_ I tried to broadcast my thoughts like a prayer, the way I would talk to Blackjack.

My prayers were answered. Three beautiful horses with the rear ends of a fish burst out of the water, and swam expectantly at the foot of the ship, deftly avoiding the monsters who tried to grab a hold of them. "Hippocampi!" gasped Annabeth. "They're beautiful!" one of them was even big enough to hold Tyson! We swam off to the accompaniment of cries of fear, anger and dismay from the monsters and some particularly choice curses from Luke. _Aha, that was absolutely music to my ears._

We made good progress, and finally reached the shores of Miami, where I found my wonderful Pegasus Blackjack waiting with two other ones. We were now on our way home.

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Something was off when we reached the camp, though. Something was different. It wasn't the fact that the tree had been healed, with the Golden Fleece hanging from one of its branches; it wasn't the fact that Chiron had returned to camp and gave us his personal thanks; it wasn't the fact that Clarisse had actually hugged us when we got back and stopped calling me "Ariel" and other made-up names. Something was different. Something in the way the campers look at me. _And I don't like it._

The answer came as I walked past Cabin one. The usual empty cabin with nothing else than an intimidating statue of Zeus in toga actually housed a girl I have never seen before, a girl with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. She turned to me and extended her hand to offer a handshake. I let out a surprised yelp as a tiny tingle passed through it. It felt like static on your sweaters. Suddenly, I knew _exactly _who this girl was. "_And find the cure for the girl who once fell alone…"_

"You must be the daughter of Poseidon." She smirked with a bit of arrogance. "I am Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

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**Hey people, it's me, alone on the water, the official writer of this awesome story. Now I know that my chapters are a tiny bit too packed and stuff, but all is for the sake of innovation. Comment below and let me know if this chapter is working just fine, or if you want the story to slow down a bit. I will consider the suggestions based on the number of comments. Well…I guess that's it for now, until next time, folks!**


	11. Chapter 11 Son of Hades

**Author's Notes:**** Hello, peoples of the earth! I have returned to you with another update of this story! I really hate to restate this in every chapter, but I do wish you to leave more reviews. If you like the chapters in any way, shape or form, please put it on favorites or alerts, or maybe even leave a review. It means very much if I know that people are still reading and liking my stories and I would prefer to have more interaction with my faithful readers. Glaring at Pjcrazy because his story has so many reviews**

**And, for those who did review in the last chapter:**

**Tanner: Thanks so much for reviewing. I am so sorry, but I cannot say anything about your comment. If I did, I would reveal some important plots in the story, and we don't want that, do we? Winks I will try to update sooner, though, if my beta decides to cooperate with me…polishes my throwing knives and smirks at Pjcrazy**

**Kimberly: Yeah, I like Thalia as well…but maybe you do need to wait a bit for Percy to appear. Glad you liked my story.**

**BY THE POWER OF THE ALMIGHTY KEYBOARD, I COMMAND THEE, MY DEAR READERS, TO ENJOY THIS CHAPTER AND LEAVE A REVIEW BELOW!**

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"_The fleece worked its magic too well…"_

"_Kronos has brought another child of the Big Three into the game…"_

"_He wants to have another go at the Great prophecy…"_

"_I am Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus…"_

It has been months since my last adventure, yet flashbacks from last winter kept bothering my mind as I waited in line to hand in my term papers to Mr. Shakespeare, our Literature teacher for us year-rounders at Camp Half-Blood. I know what you are thinking, and yes, I am talking about _the _William Shakespeare. Hades was kind enough to let him teach us old English, with an emphasis on "old" with a capital O_. _He insists on using _thee, thy, thou _when teaching his classes, and as a result, everybody spoke in sonnets for the entire semester. It was almost like that one time when Apollo came and laid a rhyming curse on us in the name of "spreading the beauty of the Limerick". I did surprisingly well all my classes despite having ADHD and dyslexia, but my life at camp was nonetheless…not as good as last year. And the reason would be a certain daughter of Zeus.

Well, ok, I will secretly admit, Thalia is cool. She always wears punk-styled clothes—a ripped-up army jacket, black leather pants, black eyeliners, and chain jewelry. And with this spunky, hard-core daughter of Zeus by my side, who would notice me? Almost all the campers right now tended to look to her for help for whatever problem there might be, and they just left me alone as if I was invisible. I tried not to feel too upset by this dramatic change from the previous summer, but it was quite hard to do after you've been in the spotlight for so long. And she was a daughter of _Zeus. _It made sense she would overshadow me.

I suppose we could have been best friends, as we shared almost the same personality, but that was the exact reason we were constantly at each other's heels. I mean, we were like a two magnets with the same poles, constantly repelling each other. Chiron couldn't put the two of us in the same room for more than ten minutes without the lights shorting out and water pipes exploding.

Once I handed in my homework, I picked up my Thalia-shaped targets from a secret hiding spot in the armory, and headed down to the archery range. It was the only Thalia-free sanctuary for me.

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The fighting between me and Thalia just got worse day by day, and being the old, wise teacher that Chiron is, he thought quests and missions would help our situation. _In the name of friendship, sisterhood, teamwork, Zeus, Hera…and all things holy, _the old centaur would so often weakly plead, _please at least try to work together for this once! _However, what he didn't know was, the more he put us both on quests, the more we bicker about seniority, and the more hostile we become. Both of us were just too accustomed to being the centre of the crowd. _Just like…now._

Chiron clopped into the room and said briskly, "Katniss, we found two demigods at Westover Hall in Maine. Special situation, the satyr sent a distress call to camp. Two companions should be enough, with one of them being Thalia, not optional." He deliberately put extra emphasis on the last two words. I started to whine and protest, but he glared at me, and added: "Travel by Pegasus, I want you on the scene _three hours ago._" I mumbled something about "not being able to time-travel to the past", wished for the hundredth time that looks could kill, for I would rather turn into a pile of ash under Chiron's gaze than to get within ten feet radius of my…_cousin._

"Ok, I am going." I said with the highest degree of sourness I could muster, shouldered a full quiver of arrows, grabbed my bow, and sulked towards the stables. I got Blackjack and two more pegasi and set off to find Annabeth and …._pinecone face. _Ha! New name for her, I like it!

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About two hours later, we arrived at the doors of Westover Hall. It was a dark and gloomy looking building, but the trip itself had been worse than a nightmare. The tension between Tha-_Pinecone Face_ and I had been so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Annabeth had tried to make polite conversations in the beginning, but her questions only received one-worded answers from the both of us, so she gave up, and the rest of the trip only consisted of a stony silence.

"I wonder what he found here that was worth an extra distress call." Annabeth murmured, causing me to shiver slightly. If Annabeth is unnerved and murmuring, then something really bad is really going to happen. _Always trust the daughter of Athena's instincts._

Pinecone Face pushed open the main doors, and we ended up in a huge, domed hall. The walls were lined with battle flags and weapon displays: antique rifles, battle axes, and a bunch of other stuff. I mean, I knew Westover was a military school and all, but the decorations seemed like overkill. And I mean, literally. _Even Camp Half-Blood doesn't have so many weapons._

A teacher showed up and tried to stop us, but apparently she was a mortal, because Pinecone face somehow manipulated the Mist and got us in. _"You mean Chiron hasn't taught you that?" _she smirked at my awestruck expression, and my silent grudge towards her just entered an entirely new level.

We followed the sound of music into a room marked "GYM" in big, capital letters. It seemed that the school was hosting a dance. It was hard not to be the annoying party-crasher, but we were fortunate enough to quickly locate the satyr and find the demigods. They were siblings, maybe even twins. And, for the younger brother, I remember seeing him before, but…ugh! I just can't remember where…

On our way out, we were stopped by the vice principal of the school, which also happened to be a monster known as..._maniac...mechanic…manatee…oh, manticore, that's the right word…_

Things just blurred by within the next couple of minutes. I remembered trying to shield the two kids with my own body and ended up with a poisonous black thorn in my shoulder which hurt like hell; I remembered Pinecone Face being tossed to the side again and again but still charged at the enemy with renewed energy; I remembered being tackled to the ground by an invisible Annabeth as another volley of thorns shot past our heads; I remembered a sleek black military-style mortal helicopter trying to mow us down with an automatic machine gun; I remembered seeing a silvery arrow hit the manticore in the shoulder and dozens of similar arrows being fired so accurately that they intercepted the black thorns in midair; and of course I would never forget how Annabeth drove her knife into the mane of the monster and tumbled down the cliff with a scream, bringing the monster along with her.

Of course as soon as the threat was cleared, the sky darkened and cackled with electricity: Thalia's doing. I didn't even bother to return the favor by raising the sea that lies below the cliff because I know the whole thing was my fault. It was because the manticore tried to attack the weak-and-wounded me that led Annabeth to sacrifice herself. The young boy Nico, who was snuggling against his older sister the entire time during the fight, now came up to the two of us and announced Annabeth was alright with such conviction that I almost believed him, yet I did see her fall with my own eyes so the depressing mood had not been lifted for at least a single bit.

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Turns out, the owners of those silver arrows were the Hunters, led by Artemis herself. She explained that it was the job of her and her team of Hunters to hunt down all the monsters of the world, and invited us to join her. The brochures of the Hunters claimed to provide a "boy-free tomorrow", "a world without responsibility", and a "whole new family", but those ideas made no sense to me so I politely declined, but Thalia and Bianca joined with great eagerness. Later, we recounted that the manticore said something about the General and the ancient beast, and that news seemed to really trouble Artemis. She left almost immediately, but she did ask her brother Apollo to bring us back to camp in his red-hot sun chariot. Apollo tried to make up a haiku (apparently he just returned from Japan) but failed miserably. He struggled to find the appropriate wording, but quickly shut up when I made up a rhyming sonnet on the spot. _Ha, there are some perks to studying from the Grand Master of Poetry himself after all._ After we filed onto the school-bus-shaped sun chariot, I almost fell off my seat as the god announced that he would let Pinecone Face drive. She literally drove with her eyes closed as the sun veered from being too close to the ground to too high-up in the atmosphere, causing half of the world to lose all vegetation in wild forest fires and the other half of the world to freeze over in permafrost. But we all let out a breath as the sun chariot crashed into Camp Half-Blood in once piece and landed directly above Zeus's cabin.

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Nico almost got himself incinerated when I led him to the Big House. He called Mr. D "The wine dude" in such a gleeful fashion that I had to cover his mouth to prevent him from talking any further. Chiron told us that we would play Capture the flag with the Hunters that evening, and for those of you who don't know, capture the flag is a war game which involved fighting against each other and getting the flag from the enemy side. No maiming or hurting is allowed of course.

I returned to my cabin to put on my armor, but a strange gurgling sound caught my attention. At the back of the abalone-decorated cabin was a big basin of gray sea rock, with a sprout like the head of a fish. Out of its mouth sprayed a stream of water, forming a mist in the cold winter air. It made the room feel warm and summery, fresh with the smell of the sea. I knew it could only be a gift from Poseidon.

I shouted out my thanks to the empty sea, and saw the water in the stone basin ripple and shimmer with a dozen or so gold drachma and I quickly realized what the fountain was for: it was a reminder to keep in touch with my family.

I sacrificed a golden coin to the goddess Iris, said the magic prayer, and asked for Tyson who was working at the forges of the Cyclops. He had been quite busy since Poseidon offered him an internship at the forges of the cyclops last summer. Right now, I could see that he was surrounded in fire, bent over an anvil, and hammering a red-hot blade. We talked about his new life under the sea; we talked about Poseidon's recent battles with old sea spirits whose name I cannot even pronounce properly in English, and finally, he just have to ask about Annabeth. They had grown fond of each other since the adventure last summer, and I knew if I told him she was missing in action, he would probably brawl his eyes out and extinguish every flame around him, so I just made up a little lie and told him not to worry.

The "Capture the Flag" that night was totally embarrassing. Fourteen Hunters, including Thalia and Bianca, and roughly the same number of campers lined up on either side of the river beside Zeus's fist. Zoe Nightshade, the lieutenant of Artemis, looked pretty upset and kept on glancing at Chiron with resentfulness. On our side of the team, we had Beckendorf and two other Hephaestus guys, a few from the Ares cabin, the Stoll brothers, Nico, and quite a few Aphrodite kids. Usually they sat on the sidelines, chatted and checked their reflections, but when they heard we were fighting the Hunters, the entire cabin shook with screams and yells. "I will show them 'love is worthless'," Silena Beauregard, the head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, grumbled as she strapped on her armor. "I shall pulverize them!"

I scanned the team, realized that everyone was looking to me for directions, and mentally sighed. Thalia is not here now, so I returned to my place as leader. _Is that what I am, a mere replacement of Thalia? _On the Hunters' side, Thalia put on a wide smirk, as if reading my miserable thoughts. I sucked in a ragged breath. _No, I will show her who is better._

"Alright team, listen up!" After the Hunters went out of earshot, I said in the most authoritative voice I can muster. "We all agree that the Hunters should be taken down, yes?" Most people grunted and cracked their knuckles.

"We will send out a decoy to the left. Silena, you lead that. Take Laura and Janette. They are good runners. Make a wide arc around the hostile camp and attract as many as you can. Do not engage unless you are absolutely sure of your abilities."

"Yes, we are so on our way!" Silena huffed with excitement.

"Conner and Travis, get out all of the prank equipments you have. Keep them busy and throw them off our scent."

"Beckendorf, take the Hephaestus and Ares cabins, attack them by surprise, and do your worst but do not maim. And I will stay here with the flag. Thalia will come after me. Are there any questions?"

Everybody nodded and broke into smaller groups. "Campers, move out! Let's kick some immortal butts!" I yelled as the horn sounded, signifying the beginning of the game.

Nico ran up to me with a big grin on his face.

"Katniss, this is so awesome!" His blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling and blocking is field of vision, and his armor plates looked six sizes too big.

Nico lifted his sword with effort. "Do we get to kill the other team?"

"Well, no."

"But the Hunters are immortal, and surely they can resurrect themselves right there on the spot!" He pouted.

"Nico, this is serious. These are real swords, so they can and will hurt people!" I scowled and scolded. _Jeez, someone needs to take that kid out of the world of video games…_

He stared at me with disappointed puppy-eyes, and I realized that I just sounded like an over protective parent. I patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, it's cool. Just follow me, and stay out of the way if battle really comes to us, ok? I don't want you to get hurt."

We set our flag at the top of Zeus's Fist. The Fist is this cluster of boulders in the middle of the west woods that, if you look at it just the right way, looks like a huge fist sticking out of the ground. If you look at it from any other side, however, it sure does look like a pile of enormous deer droppings, but Chiron wouldn't let us call the place the Poop Pile, because it is supposed to be named after Zeus, the dramatic god who doesn't have much of a sense of humor. Anyway, it was a decent place to put the flag. The top boulder was twenty feet tall and really hard to climb, and the flag was clearly visible.

"What happens now?" Nico whispered because we are the only two people left on guard duty and I told him to be quiet so that we won't draw attention.

I smiled and shouldered my quiver of fart arrows. (_What can you do? Chiron did say no maiming…_) "We wait."

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I waited for something to happen. I climbed onto the Fist (which was very tedious by the way) and tried to get a good view over the forest, but Nico started to whine in protest, so I tore a vine from a nearby tree, lowered it to the ground, pulled him up to the top of the Fist and sat down with him. Still nothing happened, so we lay down on top of the Fist and watched the stars, and dozed off.

And things naturally just had to go bad at that point because an arrow whizzed past, nicking my ear. Not a fart arrow obviously, but a full-on celestial bronze one designed to maim and kill the individual on the receiving end. I scrambled up, while my hand instinctively notched an arrow on my bow. I peered down, and saw Thalia standing on the ground, boldly and out in the open.

"Come down here, seaweed brain!" She challenged, knowing that it was impossible for me to leave this challenge alone.

I turned towards Nico, told him to stay there on top of the Fist, and slid down through the aforementioned vine. Thalia's smirk got wider as I walked towards her, and that send a shiver down my spine. _Something is not right, and it is probably right…there…_

I hit the dirt and rolled away just in time as a volley of arrows hit the spot where I was standing just a second ago. And then, at least seven Hunters all came swarming out of the woods, each leading a shiny, silver wolf.

I gulped and protested weakly, "No maiming…" but apparently the Hunters did not listen to me, and at that moment, all Hades broke loose.

And by Hades, I literally mean Hades. As I tossed my bow on the ground, grabbed my pen/sword, touched the button on my watch and brought out the trusty shield that Tyson made me, I suddenly found out that I don't even need those weapons anymore. A line of approximately a dozen skeletal warriors lined up in front of my eyes, forming a formidable barrier that separated me from the Hunters. They are certainly not of my doing, and certainly this was not done by any of the Hunters. So my eyes naturally drifted towards the only possible explanation of the situation: Nico. He was sitting at the edge of the Fist with his feet dangling in the air, and he was looking at his hand with an absolutely horrified expression. He noticed my gaze and started to scream: "I did not do it, it wasn't me! I DID NOT DO THIS!"

I tried to calm him down with the softest voice I could manage, but as he continued to scream, the skeleton soldiers multiplied exponentially and the earth itself started to crack. I fell unceremoniously into the crack in the ground, with one last thought before everything went completely black.

_Nico was a son of Hades._

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	12. Chapter 12 Into the Darkness

**Author's Notes: Hello everyone, I have returned with another update of the story! Are you excited? Let me hear!**

**Anyway, special thanks to my awesome beta Pjcrazy, who has been really supportive of my story and has provided lots of interesting ideas to get the story going! Hope you enjoy this chapter as usual, and I promise you, something exciting is going to happen very soon, so stay with me, and leave reviews!**

**Pjcrazy: (bangs head on table) Ugh! You are getting less and less creative with your Author's Notes; next time, so next time, just don't say anything and leave the readers alone!**

**Me: Shut up, and edit the next chapter. You do not want to keep the readers waiting. (Glares)**

**Disclaimer: Really, I am usually too lazy to say this, but do I look like I own anything? If I did, I wouldn't be here asking for your reviews.**

**ENJOY THE CHAPTER!**

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_Nico was a son of Hades. _That was the last thought in my mind before the ground suddenly caved in beneath my feet.

Fortunately, I fell for only a short distance before landing with a thud, right on the hard stone floor. Looking up, I could still see the purple evening sky and the hazy silhouettes of the trees, but then the hole quickly snapped shut like the lens of a camera, completely cutting me off from the outside world._ What in the name of Hades just happened? _It was pitch dark with zero visibility, and I could not even see my own hands in front of my face.

Alas, being the daughter of the sea, I have never been overly fond of darkness, so being stuck in this wet and cold hole in the ground naturally made me panic. I took a few calming breaths, reached into my pocket and uncapped Riptide, allowing the faint glow of the bronze blade to barely illuminate the mossy stone walls. I had never seen or been to this place before, but the walls seemed to be part of a very long corridor. The darkness in front of me felt emptier, and years of living with Annabeth the Architect must have rubbed off of me because somehow I knew that the corridor led to a huge room. _A secret chamber right under Camp Half-Blood's grounds…that is news indeed! How come I never heard about it before? _I took a few tentative steps forward and caught a glimpse of three passageways leading to different directions. _It's not a chamber then, it's a maze!_

Not wanting to go any further and get lost without a proper flashlight in my hands, I slowly retreated, but tripped on something and fell, _again. _I rubbed the back of my head in frustration, thought of a proper insult for whoever was trying to play a trick on me in this godforsaken dark void, when a strangely-shaped rock caught my attention. It was glowing blue and had a triangle etched to its sides. _Blue-glowing triangle…it sounds so familiar…but what is it? _I could almost hear Annabeth laugh, the way she always do when I am getting extremely close to the answers of her puzzles and needed one last nudge, but now, the sound was only driving me insane as the feeling of guilt chewed up my mind bit by bit. _If she were still here, she would be able to help me. _As I continued to stare at the rock blankly, it popped out of the ground and the roof of the cave slid open. _Ah, it's some kind of switch then…_

On the outside, the world was a lot darker than it should have been. Metal ladder rungs that led upwards appeared out of hidden trapdoors on the walls, and I could hear people yelling my name in the distance. I sighed and began to climb, bringing the popped out rock with me. _Maybe I should tell Chiron about this? I wonder who won the game anyway…_

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Turns out, while I _felt _had only been in the dark hole for a few minutes, nearly two hours had passed on the outside. And unfortunately, the hunters had won. _Huh, what a shame…_Chiron had evidently been very worried, and literally chewed me out when I returned to the Big House. But when I told him about the giant maze underneath Camp, and showed him the rock with the triangle design, Chiron started pacing around the room, stroking his beard worriedly.

The entire room was quiet. The head counselors of each cabin sat around the Ping Pong table, watching Chiron pace. Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin tried to lighten the mood by setting a ping-pong ball on fire, but the ball slipped out of his fingers and would have burnt a hole through his pants if I hadn't summon some water to extinguish it, inevitably dousing him at the same time. Well, I _was_ very sorry, but it had to be done. The eerie silence returned after that little incident, and the tension in the room was so thick that it discouraged all speech and movement. The only sounds came from the _clip, clop, clip, clop _of Chiron's hooves.

Suddenly, Chiron's head snapped up, as if he just remembered that we were all still here in the room. "Children, I think it would be time for you to retire." He sighed. "I will have to go to Olympus to converse with the gods."

We stood up reluctantly, and started to file out of the room. It was just at the moment our resident Ms. Oracle decided to make an appearance on our doorstep. I barely stopped myself from screaming in terror, but she hadn't even changed a bit since it first started to haunt my dreams two years ago. The withered and dusty mummy opened her mouth. "_I am the oracle of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python."_

She continued with a raspy voice as her marble-like eyes moved towards us. "_Danger presses those you love and care about. The Labyrinth has been found, Artemis the Huntress has been captured, and an old foe is rising." _I gulped as her eyes swept across the room, staring at each and every one of us for a few seconds before moving on to the next person, as if she was trying to make sure that everyone was listening to her. _What can be so important?_

_Deep into the endless maze you shall venture,_

_Campers and hunters unite for this adventure,_

_Three shall go west to the goddess in chains,_

_One shall be lost in the land without rain,_

_The king of ghosts shall lead the way,_

_In the labyrinth that never saw the day,_

_An enemy of old shall again return,_

_Danger presses from every turn,_

_To destroy with a hero's final breath,_

_And lose a love to worse than death_

_One shall defy a parent's hand,_

_The titan's curse shall one withstand._

It was not until the Oracle finally stopped talking and crumbled into a pile of inanimate object that I finally realized the prophecy was longer this time. Not a tiny bit longer, but significantly longer, almost like…two of them combined together. The other campers seemed to realize this as well, because all of us cast our inquisitive gazes towards Chiron. The old centaur knew that we weren't going to let this go so easily, so he beckoned all of us to come back to the table.

"Captured and in chains?" Zoe blinked, hands reaching for her bow. "Lady Artemis has been captured?" She repeated, voice going three octaves higher than usual.

"You heard the prophecy; five people shall go to the quest." Chiron waved his hand dismissively and told Zoe to calm down.

"Five Hunters, please?" Bianca perked up.

"You are missing something, as usual." Silena chimed in grumpily, probably because she did not get the chance to pulverize the Hunters as she expected. "_Campers and hunters unite for this adventure._ We are supposed to do this together."

"No!" Zoe snapped. "The Hunters do not need thy help." _Ugh, old English…_

"I fear the prophecy does say you do need our help." Chiron sighed.

"Or maybe we can go separate ways." I stood up, as the wave of realization hit me, "Three Hunters and two campers."

"That does seem to make sense." Thalia, surprisingly, agreed with what I said, probably for the first time since we got to know each other's names.

"And we are supposed to split up into two groups anyway. 'The land without rain', that might be a desert, and 'The labyrinth' is the one I just discovered, isn't it? Creation of Daedalus, world's greatest inventor, and the very one who invented The Labyrinth itself, and I mean THE one that held the legendary Minotaur. The triangle is his special marking: the Greek letter Delta." I eyed the rock warily and ranted on, as if Annabeth was smiling and whispering the answers into my ears. "So unless there is an underground desert somewhere that I don't know of, I suggest we go two different ways." _Ha, she did rub off me more than I had thought._

Chiron closed his eyes as if trying to ward off an evil memory. "Yes, children, it is as I feared. The labyrinth has been reopened. It has many openings, and many still exist today. Katniss here has found one right inside the camp, past the magical boundaries, and if Luke had known about this…"

He didn't need to finish, because we all knew the answer. If somehow the monsters got past our camp borders, then we would have absolutely nothing to do about it. _All of us would be hunted to extinction, or forced to surrender to the dark side._

Chiron then turned to Zoe. "Why is Lady Artemis required to attend the solstice?"

Zoe hesitated, and then reluctantly began to speak. "Milady has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos' minions. If she is absent, then we would lose another year of war preparations."

The room erupted with commotion after Zoe finished her speech, with most people voicing their varying levels of agreement. Zoe chose to take Thalia and Bianca with her on the quest to save Artemis, while the campers argued over and over again as to who should go to the Labyrinth.

"I will go." I volunteered, but nobody spared me a glance because they were all over-occupied with the argument going on in this room. "I will go down the labyrinth, but I need one more person to come with me." I raised my voice.

"Guess it will be me." Nico stepped up and the room fell quiet. He is only thirteen, younger than anyone of us, yet he volunteered to go on a quest. Many bowed their heads down in shame. "The prophecy did say you need a 'ghost king' on your side." Nico added plainly, without any additional emotion.

"So let it be decided." Chiron intoned solemnly, "You five will set off at first light tomorrow morning. You shall complete your quests by the Winter Solstice, which is five days from now. Find Artemis, or I fear something terrible might happen. Now sleep tight, children."

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The next morning, I saw a big group of campers gather by Zeus' fist, with the children of Ares, Hephaestus and Hermes standing in the front, closest to the entrance of the labyrinth. Quintus, our new swords master for the year, was evidently trying to stop the campers from doing… whatever it is they were doing, but Clarisse just laughed in his face and shot a smirk towards the Hunters, who were standing in a separate group, watching disapprovingly from a distance.

I pushed my way to the front of the crowd. "What are you doing?" I asked, as Jake Mason, one of the Hephaestus campers, was stuffing a glowing green jar into the entrance of the labyrinth.

Clarisse grinned at me. "Hey Kat, remember last night, when Chiron said Luke might enter through the labyrinth? We have it sorted." She picked up one of the jars and showed it to me. "This is Greek Fire, one of the most explosive substances known to us. We're going to blow this entrance up!"

Quintus groaned and facepalmed. "I have already _told _you, it can't be done! The labyrinth cannot be destroyed by explosives!"

They ignored him, _naturally._

Finally, they all scrambled away from the hole as fast as they could. Clarisse took out a remote with a big red button. "Fire on hold, fire on hold…" She yelled, and quickly pressed said button.

_**BOOOOOOOM!**_

The explosion shook the entire camp. Green fire and smoke permeated the air, and many campers were knocked off from their feet. There were sounds of people screaming, mixed with the cries of several younger campers, and the whole place was in a state of utter chaos.

When the smoke finally cleared…the hole was still intact. Well, don't get me wrong, the bombs were powerful indeed, because even the huge lump of rock known as Zeus' Fist was cracked and weakened from the blast of the shockwave; yet the entrance to the labyrinth was still there, like a gaping mouth, laughing at us.

Quintus brushed the dust off his shirt, rolled his eyes and put on a straight face: "This would be a _perfect _time to say 'I _told _you so'…"

The entire camp groaned with disappointment and sulked off towards their usual activities. The attack _is_ going to come, whether we like it or not, and it is up to the five of us to try and stop this from happening. _Ah, no pressure…_

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Quintus grabbed my arm as I was about to enter into the darkness.

"I have a bad feeling about this." He struggled to find conversation, "I don't like the idea of you going down there into the maze, any of you. But if you set your mind to it, I cannot stop you. I want you to remember something. The Labyrinth exists to fool you. It will distract you. That is dangerous for half-bloods. We are easily distracted."

"You've been there before?"

"Long ago…"his voice was gruff, as if he had remembered something unpleasant. "I barely escaped with my life. Most aren't that lucky."

"Oh." I deadpanned.

He handed me a little silver tube. It was so cold that I almost dropped it.

"What's this whistle for?" I frowned.

"It's a dog whistle," he rubbed his hands together, "for Mrs. O'Leary."

Mrs. O'Leary is this truck-sized hellhound that Quintus keeps as pet. Surprisingly, despite her massive size, she was a rather sweet dog. She is also a sparring partner for those of us who take sword-fighting lessons with him. She always appears by his side when called, no matter how faraway she was. We even tried to bury her in the sand for once, but as soon as the whistle was blown, she could still teleport to the side of her master, which was rather impressive. She also loved to play with the bronze Frisbee Beckendorf had made her, and she frequently gave free saliva baths to several campers in particular, namely Beckendorf and me.

"Thanks." I said, and slipped the whistle into my pocket. _It would be nice to have her by my side._

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Sometime later, after we entered the maze, we met someone who stood before two doors. He had two faces, and they jutted out from either side of his head, staring over his shoulders, so his head was much wider than it should have been. I will never say this out loud, but he looked like a hammered shark with mirror-like sideburns.

"I am your best friend." The face on the right said.

"I am your worst enemy." The face on the left added with a smirk.

"I am Janus," both faces said in harmony. "God of doorways, beginnings, endings, and choices…"

He pestered me and told me to choose from the two doors behind him, but before I could summon water and drown him out of frustration, Hera appeared and scolded Janus like a mother instructing her child. Janus vanished without another protest, and Hera invited us to sit down and have sandwich. She then turned to Nico and told him that she especially came down to earth for him, and that made me very nervous. Usually when the gods do that, they want something from you, most of the time, something dangerous... I vowed to Bianca that I would keep her brother safe before we went on the quest, so now naturally I grew defensive and snapped back at Hera, a bit too roughly. Fortunately, nothing "interesting" happened, and the meeting ended rather peacefully with the disturbing thought of "Kronos is my grandfather" swirling around in my head.

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The route Hera told us to take did lead us to a ranch alright. Rolling hills stretched to the horizon, dotted with oak trees and cacti and boulders. A barbed wire fence ran from the gate in either direction. Cherry-colored cows roamed around, grazing on clumps of grass.

We met a two-headed dog, along with its master Eurytion, a demigod son of Ares. He took us to the ranch master Geryon, a guy with three bodies and one head. He seemed to be a rather decent guy, until we found out that he was actually the main food supplier for the titan army. He then tried to get rid of us by ordering me to clean up his horribly-smelly stables filled with flesh-eating horses. Luckily, a nymph from a river gave me some advice. And what do you know; I solved the problem quite easily by drawing sea water from some petrified sea shells hidden in the mud, giving the rude flesh-eating horses a salty bath which they didn't like at all. I made them promise to be good flesh-eating horses from now on, and left them to it.

Unfortunately, Geryon didn't seem very happy I survived the stable-duty. He tried to order Eurytion, his servant, to kill us all, but Eurytion refused, and this three-bodied monster had to attack us himself. I thrust Riptide into his middle body and waited for him to disintegrate. Only Nico's warning shout saved me from powerful blow to the head. The reason he was still alive and breathing was that he had three bodies, and this meant that he had three hearts, the perfect backup system. I took my bow and fired an arrow through his three bodies at once, killing him instantly. _See, learning archery can have its perks…_I sacrificed some food from Geryon's coolers to the siblings Apollo and Artemis to express my thanks.

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Eurytion, seeing his boss dead, was rather pleased. He decided to take over the ranch and stop the supplying business. He was actually rather friendly; probably the only friendly son of Ares ever to exist in all of mankind's documented history. He gave us a mechanical spider, which guided us to where we are right now: the doors to Hephaestus's workshop. Nico trailed behind me nervously, gripping his sword tightly with shaking hands. _Poor kid, way too young to be a soldier, yet heading into a war at the age of thirteen…_

The room was enormous. It looked like a mechanic's garage, with hydraulic lifts and cars and automaton parts and all kinds of metal tools that I couldn't name. Under the nearest hydraulic lift, which was holding a '98 Toyota Corolla, a pair of legs stuck out—the lower half of a huge man in grubby gray pants and shoes even bigger than Tyson's. _One leg was in a metal brace._

The spider scuttled straight under the car, and the sounds of banging stopped.

"Well, well," a deep voice boomed from under the Corolla. "What have we here?"

The mechanic pushed out on a back trolley and sat up.

I'd seen Hephaestus once before, briefly on Olympus, so I thought I was prepared, but his appearance made me gulp. I guess he'd cleaned up when I saw him on Olympus, or used magic to make his form seem a little less hideous. Here, in his own workshop, he apparently didn't care how he looked. He work a jumpsuit smeared with oil and grime. The name Hephaestus was embroidered in big, capital letters over the chest pocket. His leg creaked and clicked in its metal brace as he stood, and his left shoulder was lower than his right, so he seemed to be leaning even when he was standing up straight. His head was misshapen and bulging. He wore a permanent scowl. His black beard smoked and hissed. Every once in a while a small wildfire would erupt in his whiskers then die out. His hands were the size of catcher's mitts, but he handled the spider with amazing skill. He disassembled it in two seconds, and then put it back together just as fast.

"I did not make you, did I?" He gazed at us intently after losing interest in the spider.

"Uh, no…but we've met before, sir."

"Have we?" the gods asked absently. I had a thought that he cared about his machines more than the people he met…quite a sadistic lifestyle actually.

We then asked if the god knew where Daedalus was, and that caused quite an outrage in him. He was practically seething with fury when he said the name through gritted teeth, probably because they had been bitter rivals.

As we pressed him for further answers, he sighed, and offered us an option. We would do a favor for him, and he would tell us where Daedalus is, or _was_…whatever.

"One of my forges," Hephaestus said in a booming voice. "I have many, but one used to be my favorite."

"Mount St. Helens, is it not?" Nico chimed in. Guess he was using his underground powers again.

"It _used to be_ your favorite, what happened?"I asked with a frown.

Hephaestus scratched his smoldering beard. "Well, that's where the monster Typhon is trapped, you know. Used to be under Mount Etna, but when we moved to America, his force got pinned under Mount St. Helens instead. Great source of fire, but a bit dangerous, there's always a chance he will escape. And when he does, I trust you know what will happen. Typhon was a bane of the gods after all."

"What do you want us to do?" I said, "Fight him?"

Hephaestus snorted. "That would be suicide. The gods themselves ran from Typhon when he was free. No, pray you never have to see him, much less fight him. But lately I have sensed intruders in my mountain. Someone or something is using my forges. When I go there, it is empty, but I can tell it is being used. They sense me coming, and they disappear. I send my automatons to investigate, but they do not return. Something…ancient is there. Evil… I want to know who dares invade my territory, and if they mean to let loose Typhon."

"You want us to find out who it is," I said.

"Aye," Hephaestus said. "Go there. They may not sense you coming. You are not gods."

"Glad you noticed," I muttered.

"Go and find out what you can," Hephaestus said. "Report back to me, and I will tell you what you need to know about Daedalus."

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It wasn't long before the tunnel started to get hot. The stone walls literally glowed red and the air felt stingy as if we were walking through an oven. The tunnel sloped down and I could hear a loud roar, like a river of molten metal or something. After walking for another half mile or so, we emerged in the size of a Super Bowl stadium. We just arrived at the forge of Hephaestus.

There was no floor, just bubbling lava hundreds of feet below. We stood on a rock ridge that ran around the perimeter of the cavern. A complex network of metal bridges spanned across it. At the centre was a huge platform with all sorts of machines, cauldrons, and the largest anvil I have ever seen—a black chunk of metal the size of a house. Creatures moved around the platform. They had dark skin, but I was still too far away to make out any additional features.

Nico had offered to sneak up on them quietly because he had the power of shadows, but I could not risk letting the young boy go off on his own. Just after he left, I followed up. The heat was horrible, yes, but fortunately I found a miners' cart and hid inside.

Unfortunately for me though, was that the cart was filled with Celestial Bronze scraps, and before I could realize what was going on, I, along with the cart, was whisked away to a classroom-like hall with an old-fashioned film projector.

I could hear that the tinny narration in film was talking about sea demons and their abilities to forge great weapons worthy of the gods, and from the excited snarling sounds in the room, I had a pretty good idea that the "individuals" in the room were exactly the aforementioned sea demons themselves. Oh, sorry, the correct term is "Telekhines".

When the film was over, and the "younglings" scrambled towards the back of the room in order to get a piece of scrap metal to "test their ingenuity", I had no choice but to leap out of the cart and slash away at the monsters as hard as I could. Ha, new lesson for the class…fear the crazy girl with the bronze sword.

I decided to fall back from the classroom once the situation got out of control, but the Telekhines were in hot pursuit. I could only pray to Hades that Nico, wherever he was, could get to safety. I ran for the middle of a nearby platform, surprising the four elder sea demons so much that they dropped the red-hot blade that they were carrying. It was about six-feet long and curved like a crescent moon, and it was terrifying to look at.

The elder demons got over their surprise quickly. They were four ramps leading off the platform I was standing on, and before I could dash off in any direction, each of them picked an exit and blocked it.

The tallest one snarled, "What do we have here, a daughter of Poseidon?"

"Yes," another one hissed, "I can smell the sea in her sweet blood."

I raised Riptide, but my heart was already pounding out of control. My free hand closed in on the freezing whistle that Quintus gave me, but I hesitated. I did not trust Quintus, or his gifts. After all, I once trusted Ares, and the flying shoes he gave me as gifts almost led us straight to the pits of Tartarus.

The tallest demon growled again as he continued to speak: "Too bad such a pretty face is going to get destroyed by us, wouldn't you say? Let's see how strong she is. Let's see how long it takes her to burn!"

He scooped some lava out of the nearest furnace. It set his fingers ablaze, but this didn't seem to bother him at all. The other Telekhines did the same. The first one threw the glop of molten rocks at me, setting my pants on fire. Two more splattered across my chest. I dropped my sword as the fires get hotter by the instant and swatted at my clothes in despair. Fire was engulfing me.

"Your father's nature protects you," one of the demons said as leaned down to my doubled-up form, "It makes you hard to burn. But not impossible, young one, it is not impossible to do."

I remembered screaming, and calling out to the sea in my blood. I remembered a searing pain in my guts as if someone just ripped them out of my stomach, and the sea indeed came. An explosion, a tidal wave, a whirlwind of power simultaneously poured into the confined space, creating a gust of super-heated steam that shot me upwards, flying so high that Zeus would never have forgiven me, and then free-falling towards the earth like a comet.


	13. Chapter 13 Revelations

**Author's Notes: Another chapter is here! Hope you like it!**

**Also, school is starting next Tuesday, so maybe my updates will be less often, probably once a week, or biweekly? But I promise this story will go on and have a sequel! So stay with me, and leave reviews!**

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Demigod dreams suck, _really _suck. The thing is, they are never just dreams, they've got to be visions, omens, and all other mystical stuff that makes my brains hurt.

This time, when I went unconscious from the earthquake-scale explosion, I dreamed that I was in a dark palace at the top of a mountain. Somehow I recognized that place even if I have never been there before: it was Mount Othrys in California. _An evil place…_

_Torchlight glowed against the black marble floor, and the main pavilion was ringed with black, Greek-style columns and the statues of Titans. In the centre of the room, an armored giant struggled under a gigantic mass of swirling funnel cloud. The cloud must have weighed quite a lot, because although the aforementioned giant was rather tough and muscular, beads of sweat were covering his face, and his body was contorted at an unnatural angle. There were two other unarmored giant men relaxing beside a bronze brazier, yet they made no attempt to lend a hand to the armored one who was, slowly but surely, breaking down._

_One of the relaxing men said with a smirk: "Quite an explosion there at the volcano. Wonder if our old friend is out of his bonds yet?" His face was covered in a war helm with a ram's horn curling on either side. He looked ridiculous, if you ask me._

"_Doesn't matter…" the other one said dismissively. This titan was dressed in golden robes with an aura similar to that of Apollo, only crueler and harsher. "The gods are already panicking at our first challenge; soon they will be destroyed because they have no idea of what we have in store. Mark my words, Olympus will fall….Brick by brick, just as milord Kronos has said."_

_The ram horn dude grunted: "What about the half-blood? Don't you agree that she has to be eliminated?"_

"_I agree, but in the right way, at the right time. Make her a war casualty, not a martyr. Let them rally behind that." The golden Titan rubbed his hands together in anticipation, as if the mere thought of my demise intrigued him like a juicy steak._

_The first dude that was trying to hold up the black funnel cloud bellowed in agony: "Let me out, curse you, Hyperion! I am your finest warrior! Take my burden and allow me to fight!"_

"_Oh, no, no, no, not yet, dearest Atlas," The golden one cooed. "Someone will come and take your place very soon. Don't worry."_

_Just then, a series of moments flashed before my eyes. First, it was Luke, pledging loyalty to Kronos and taking the black cloud onto his own back. Then it was Annabeth, who was red-faced and barely breathing. My heart leapt to my mouth. So that's where she went! Finally it was Lady Artemis herself, white dress torn and ragged, with wrists and ankles bound in thick, celestial bronze chains. She screamed furiously at Luke for "hurting such a fine young maiden", and relieved Annabeth of the heavy burden. Her pained facial expression tells me that even a goddess like her might not hold on for very long._

_Then I was pulled into a dark, sandy arena. A cage protected the spectators from injury, and there were monsters everywhere I looked. Luke sat in a golden throne at a high point, with another throne beside him. The guy in that other throne was built like a wrestler. He would have looked very intimidating if he wasn't scratching his armpit. Oh yeah, he was only dressed in a loincloth. I turned my attention towards the arena. A boy was there, fighting against two hellhounds at once. I couldn't see his face, but his purple shirt surely stood out. He was wielding a sword that could have been an exact carbon copy of Riptide, except it was longer. He easily managed to kill both of the hellhounds. Somehow, I felt a connection to him. This would be someone important to me… The boy surveyed the golden dust floating around the arena, and then glared murderously at Luke and the other guy. I gasped. He had sea green eyes and dark hair, just like mine. Who was this boy? The boy snarled at the barely-dressed giant. "Anteaus, I had had enough of your little games. Let me through, NOW!"_

_The dude said nothing, just waved his hand and a door at the other end of the arena opened. Two Scythian Dracaenae and a cyclops leapt out. The boy groaned and lifted his sword. "Curse you, minions of Saturn!" he glared at Luke. "And you too, Traitor son of Mercury." Saturn and Mercury…is he a Roman or something? Unfortunately, the scene changed before I could see anything else._

_This time, the scene changed to a barren desert. Little vegetation was in sight, and the sun was blaring down at the empty sandy ground. Two prone forms, dressed in light silver garments, were walking quite slowly, looking dazed. Zooming in, I could see that the two people were actually Zoe and Thalia. But Bianca was nowhere in sight. I felt a cold hand caressing my spine as the line of the prophecy suddenly dawned on me: "One shall be lost in the land without rain."_

_Bianca was gone. And judging from the grim expressions of the two survivors, it was not a peaceful death._

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I snapped awake with a scream. I was in a dark place, on a comfortable bed. Somehow, everything seemed to have a blue tinge, and when I moved my hands, there was a slight resistance, as if I was underwater. _Wait…underwater! _

My eyes roved around the room, taking it in. Pure white abalone walls, fresh seaweed bed sheets, and a glowing pearl that stood on the nightstand. This must be my father's palace! I then heard movement to the other side. Tyson was snoring on a chair beside my bed. I gently nudged him awake, and his big brown eyes snapped open. Naturally, he was beyond delighted to see me up and moving, and that 'my brain was still working'.

All the events before today flashed before me, and I anxiously checked my body for burns. _Amazing…_ there were none. Apparently, I had been incredibly lucky to fall into the ocean, where the water went to work, healing me as if I was as good as new. There was not a single scar left on my body.

I toured the palace in awe. The palace was as big as the city on Mount Olympus, with wide courtyards, gardens, and columned pavilions. The gardens were sculpted with coral colonies and glowing sea plants. Twenty or thirty buildings were made of limestone, white yet gleaming with rainbow colors. Multicolored fish and octopi darted in and out of the windows.

Yet beyond this, the sea floor stretched into gloom. I could see battles raging-flashes of energy, explosions, and the glint of armies clashing. A regular human would've found it too dark to see. Heck, a regular human would've been crushed by the pressure and frozen by the cold, but not me.

Now, I could breathe underwater just fine, and my clothes don't even get wet unless I want them to, but it was still quite depressing when I found out that Poseidon already lost his usual look of black beard and perfect tan. His looks reflected the state of his kingdom and apparently, judging from the spectacular white beard on his face, the underwater kingdom was not doing so good. He told me that the titan Oceanus was attacking and plain words were just not enough to cheer the old man up.

I told him about my dreams last night, and that made him very worried. For some reason that even I don't know, I deliberately left out the part about the boy in the arena. He stroked his beard, and told me that the Olympians would try their best to protect me so I should rest assured. This statement caused a lot of raised eyebrows among the others, as two of them swam past us and shot me a cold glare. Later introductions told me that the two were Amphitrite and Triton, who were basically the legal, immortal wife and son of my father. _Guess I couldn't blame them for being so…cold._

As another bolt of energy hit the nearby waters, Poseidon gritted his teeth and told me to leave and return to the surface.

"Dad, I can fight with a sword." I begged, "I know I can. You are not going to hold out here much longer."

"Return to the surface," he insisted. "It is not time yet."

"Not time for what? I-"

"Katniss, you must go." He waved his hand. "I don't know what will happen in the future, but I do know that your fight lies in the world above. You must warn your friends at camp, and we will hold here."

I wanted to protest even more, but Poseidon waved his hand, and a stream of water wrapped around me and gently pushed me away. When I looked back, all I could see were flashes of green and blue as my dad fought Oceanus, the Titan of the sea, and the sea itself was torn apart by two armies. I sighed and turned to face whatever was up there back in the world.

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I broke through the surface of the water with a gasp, but immediately wished that I had kept my mouth shut. A rather familiar white cruise ship was docked almost right next to me, and the screaming princess carved out on the main mast was almost as good as new. The ship was the _Princess Andromeda_, and it had probably brought along _more _enemies to fight.

A loud explosion at the seashore caught my attention, and I could just faintly make out two people climbing out of the wreckage of a car and coughing badly due to the yellowish smoke that surrounded the blasting site. Only a loud curse aimed at Zeus allowed me to recognize who the two people were: Zoe and Thalia. I quickly swam towards them, while trying my best not to make a sound. _Although I was a daughter of the sea, it still is quite impossible for me to fight an entire army of monsters while I was floating in the middle of the ocean by myself. I am not that good a fighter you see…_

I narrowly avoided being electrocuted by Thalia and being turned into a living pincushion by Zoe when I first tried to approach them. I admit, I was pretty pleased to see them, and they seemed glad to see me too, which was a significant leap in terms of our relationships. Guess there's nothing like seeing a familiar face to lift your spirits…

We shared the shortened-version of our encounters. I told my friends about the labyrinth and the explosion I had caused at Mt. St Helens, which I think really impressed Thalia. It was a tragedy to learn that Bianca was killed while they were fighting an automaton made by Hephaestus: the chunk of metal fell directly on top of her. Before that, the three of them had together managed to defeat the Nemean Lion too. Thalia was wearing the skin, which looked like a regular fur coat to me. I then had the bright idea of sacrificing the coat to Artemis, to give her strength, which was met with unanimous agreement. Zoe and I collected the firewood, and Thalia set them on fire with a bolt of lightning. We threw the coat in together, offered it to Artemis, and it vanished.

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I told them about my dream, about Mt. Othrys, which made Zoe's face pale dramatically. She pointed to a mountain some distance away and said that would be our destination. She wouldn't explain anything, but I somehow got the feeling it had something to do with the last line of the prophecy. _The titans curse shall one withstand, and one shall defy a parent's hand. _She led us to the foot of the mountain and glanced up wistfully. "There is the garden of the Hesperides, also known as the garden of Eternal Twilight. Inside is the tree of golden apples, which was Hera's wedding gift. Beware, for it is guarded by a ferocious, hundred headed dragon. "

We entered the said garden without any difficulty, yet Zoe insisted that we stop in front of the five-story-tall apple tree. Huge, shiny golden apples hung from the branches. I quickly shoved my hands in my pocket to avoid being tempted, because although the apples were shiny and looked delicious, a dragon was there, and I have no intention of letting my arm get bitten off. Fortunately, it seemed to be fast asleep. Four figures shimmered into existence, and they all look very much like Zoe, with white Greek chitons, caramel skin, and silky black hair. They were the Hesperides, which were siblings of Zoe, but their cold glares tell me that Zoe was no longer welcomed among their ranks. They told me that I was a threat, and that the gods were unhappy because Thalia hasn't killed me yet.

"It was tempting sometimes," Thalia admitted. "But no, thanks, she is my cousin." _But what about those fights we had? _I was mentally gaping, but wisely did not say anything. _Did she just..._ I was speechless. Thalia actually considered me _family?_ Of course, I knew we were related, but… I never really thought of her as my cousin in camp.

One of the girls shook her head skeptically, and (_oh Styx)_ raised her voice to wake up the dragon that was guarding the apple tree. Luckily for us, Zoe seemed to know it well, as started trying to sing a lullaby to it. This plan seemed to be working, until one of her sisters glared and started singing another song, harsh and grating. The dragon's pupils narrowed to slits. Zoe would have died right there, but Thalia distracted it with an awesome bolt of lightning, therefore allowing us to run away without sustaining any visible injury, or at least I think so. At the top of the mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns and bronze statues stood there, reminding the visitors of their past glory as the main fortress of the Titans.

Zoe was gasping for breath: "In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were two rival capitals of the world. Othrys was—" She winced and held her side, and continued to speak. "In the First Titan war, this place was blasted to pieces, but it moves in the same way that Olympus does, always existing on the edge of the civilization. But this is Atlas's mountain, where he holds…" She froze for a second and continued with a voice ragged with despair. "This is the place where he held up the sky."

"That's right, my dearest little traitor, I see you used past tense to describe me, how very clever." A booming voice resonated around us. And with that, a dozen monsters appeared out of nowhere and had the whole place surrounded. At the centre was the manticore in his animal form, and that weasel Luke. There was a form slumped at their feet. An unconscious girl, with blonde hair… _Annabeth! _She was bound and gagged. Her eyes were shut, and there were scars on her forehead. I could feel Thalia tense, and slightly shuffled towards me so that we were now standing back to back. But before I had time to express my feelings on how she just trusts me without question, it suddenly dawned on me that we haven't met the owner of the booming voice yet.

"Who are you?" I ventured.

"Ah, how quaint…I suppose your next question would be 'What do you want from us', right? That is so boring. How about we add a little spice to the situation?" The booming voice mused, as the circle of monsters parted just a tiny little bit, barely enough to let us see Artemis holding up the vortex of black clouds, just like the scene in my dream.

Zoe cried and rushed forward, but two Laestrygonians blocked her path with javelins. Artemis said: "Stop! Don't try to fight them. Leave when you can. It is a trap." Her voice was strained, and she was drenched in sweat. The weight of the sky was clearly too much for the goddess.

"How touching." The booming voice continued, but this time I could clearly make out where the voice was coming from. It was an armored giant, the one…the same one in my dreams…Atlas.

The giant man said, as if he was reading my thoughts. "Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the titan army, and terror of the gods. Congratulations, I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl." The giant sneered at me, but quickly directed his gaze towards Zoe, who was grimacing and clearly hiding a serious wound that somehow we did not notice earlier. _This was not good…_

"You are not going to hurt Zoe." I said, raising my sword and shield.

"If you want to get her, you have to get past the both of us." Thalia joined in.

Atlas huffed in annoyance, "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is… a family matter."

"Yes," Zoe said with her eyes hollow and in deep thought. "Atlas is my father."

The disturbing thing was, I could see the family resemblance. Atlas had the same regal expression as Zoe, the same cold, proud look that Zoe sometimes got when she was really mad, though it looked a thousand times more evil if the expression was put onto the face of Atlas. Luke then stepped forward, his smug face made me _really _want to punch him.

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Luke spoke slowly, enunciating each syllable of his words. "Thalia, you can still join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look! We even have a pool for him!"

Zoe noticed my confused expression, so she quietly explained to me that the Ophiotaurus was this serpent-cow combination that was deemed to be the bane of the gods. Since it was an innocent living being, anybody who killed it and sacrificed its internal organs can gain enough power to overthrow the gods on Olympus. How quaint!

_And apparently that was troubling Thalia right now: the promise of power. Fortunately I never wanted the right to rule._ I shook my head as Luke ranted on: "Thalia, don't you remember all those times we talked? All those times we cursed the gods? Our fathers have done nothing for us. They have no right to rule the world! Join me, and it can be like old times, the three of us together, fighting for a better world. Please Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus!"

"Don't do this, sister." Zoe warned. "We must fight them. Remember the oath you took. Serve Lady Artemis."

Luke pointed towards the ocean, and my heart fell. A great army marched up the side of the mountain, right from the cruise ship with the screaming princess. The number of monsters has multiplied since I last saw the ship, and that, was certainly not good. "All we need is your help, Thalia." Luke pleaded.

For a terrible moment, Thalia hesitated. She gazed at Luke, her eyes full of pain, as if the only thing she wanted in the world was to believe him. Then she leveled her spear. "You aren't Luke. I don't know you anymore."

Luke scoffed and smirked. "Its choice day, Thalia Grace, you turn sixteen on this very day." He pointed to the pool. "Call the beast, defy the gods. Together we can rule the world!"

Thalia let out a warm, hearty laugh. "Wrong. I will never turn sixteen, Luke. I am a hunter of Artemis now, ageless, immortal. Kronos can't use me now."

Luke tried to come up with something to snap back at Thalia, but time was running low for our side. If that army got to the top of the hill, we would be overwhelmed. I looked at Thalia and Zoe, and I decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to die fighting with friends like this. It's now or never.

Together, we charged.

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I went in for the Titan Lord Atlas, which was probably the most stupid thing in my life. I swung my sword, but the attack was easily blocked as Atlas knocked me aside with the shaft of his javelin. I flew through the air and slammed into a black wall. It was solid, and rising at a slow and steady rate. The place was becoming real. I shook off my daze and charged again. If I could make it to the pool of water, which was on the other side of the room by the way, I could double my strength. The javelin point slashed towards me like a scythe. I raised Riptide, planning to cut off his weapon at the shaft, but that proved a lot harder than expected. The javelin caught me in the chest and sent me flying again like a rag doll. I slammed into the ground, but before I could get up, Atlas picked me up in a choke-hold and brought me next to a glowing sarcophagus. A wave of pure evilness invaded my veins as the giant bounded me to a nearby wooden post, and rolled up the sleeves of my jacket.

Atlas gloated at Thalia and Zoe, who were still fighting: "Stop and surrender now, or your friend dies!" He used the point of his javelin to scratch my face gently, but it pierced my skin and left behind a thin trail of blood nonetheless.

Thalia grunted in frustration and threw her spear down, but her gaze towards me wasn't the least bit angry. It actually contained genuine concern. I squeezed out a smile and tried to convey the message of _everything is going to be fine_, but my heart actually sank as I saw what happened next.

A Dracaenae took out a handful of Kronos' remains and cast them into a bronze brazier while muttering: "Spirit of thyself, unknowingly given, for you will reborn anew."

Luke walked up to the brazier and straightened Backbiter with a grimace. But before I could yelp in terror, he swiftly cut off his hand and proudly announced: "Flesh of thy servant, willingly given, for you will revive your master."

Atlas grinned evilly and approached my arm with a sharp knife. "Blood of thy enemy, forcibly taken, for you will resurrect your foe." He said, and plunged the blade into my left arm, the one which I usually hold my bow with. I let out a scream, held back a few tears, and watched helplessly as the blood-soaked blade was lowered into the flames. A huge cloud of black smoke rose, covering the brazier in darkness, but when the smoke died down, I could see Luke, paler than ever, rubbed his eyes with the back of his good hand. The hand that he had cut off had grown back, but that wasn't the only problem that made my hairs stand on end.

Luke's eyes were golden, like a titan.

Annabeth, who seemed to have woken at that very moment, screamed, and broke the spell that held all of us. I successfully wriggled out of my bonds, joined my friends, and backed off with Riptide held high. _Things had just gone from bad…to disastrous. _

Luke/Kronos walked towards us slowly, as if he had all the time in the world. When we moved, our movements became sluggish, slow. I realized that Kronos was controlling time, making it difficult for us.

At that moment, the wind seemed to pick up. A good, strong breeze blew over Orthrys. It wasn't much, but it gave me an idea. I glanced at Kronos, who was still walking over leisurely, then back to Thalia. Out of the corner of my mouth, I whispered. "Good wind today, and the pool is full of water."

She looked confused for a moment, then her eyes lit up in understanding, and we grinned. Kronos had almost reached us. "So, demigods…what would your choices be? Pledge your eternal allegiance to Kronos and defy the gods? Or…" His hand caressed the razor-sharp blade of his scythe "Die painfully, with your soul severed from your body?"

I opened my mouth. An evil smile of anticipation grew on Kronos' face, but I wasn't planning on talking to him. "NOW!" I yelled, as loudly as I could under this frozen time frame.

Thalia waved her hand, and a sudden, strong gust of wind blew Kronos backwards. I reached out with my hand, and the water from the pool formed a rope which wrapped around Kronos' ankle and pulled him in. Thalia summoned a bolt of lightning, which hit the water. The electricity was conducted through the entire pool in seconds, causing Kronos to groan in pain. We charged forward, but he lazily held up his hand, and we froze mid-charge, unable to move. _Why that…cheater!_

He sighed. "A brave attempt, demigods, though obviously doomed from the very start. For your little display, though… I will grant you a reprieve. There are…things which I have to do right now." He turned to Atlas. "General, I would _love _to watch you kill them slowly, but I'm afraid I have to leave. Make it slow and painful, though. They deserve nothing less." He vanished in a pillar of fire.

Atlas grinned and turned to me. "Ready for round two, demigod?" my arm was bleeding. I was bone tired. I was definitely in no shape to fight. I glanced around the hill desperately, looking for _something _that could help me, and my gaze rested on Artemis, who was holding up the sky. _Of course!_

I ran towards the spot where Artemis was suffering as fast as I could. "My Lady, get out. I will hold the sky while you fight. It's the only way!"

Artemis glanced at me in horror. "No! I could never ask a young maiden like you to suffer through this agony! Even I can barely hold it up, much less you alone. I respect your bravery child, but I cannot ask you to do this."

"She…will not be alone, milady." I turned towards the voice. Zoe staggered over to me. "We shall hold up the sky together."

"But the prophecy…" I said, "The prophecy only said one of us should do this!"

"Since when did you follow the rules so well, my friend?" Zoe squeezed out a smile, but it was painful nonetheless.

Artemis closed her eyes, and then nodded. We slowly crouched beside her, and held our shoulders against the black cloud. Artemis let go. I gritted my teeth hard to prevent myself from screaming. It was agony. Imagine trying to hold up a ten-ton elephant, and then multiply the feeling by nearly a million. _That's _how it felt. My vision darkened. The knife wound on my arm tore wider under the strain, and I was literally gushing blood. Zoe wasn't doing very well either. Her silvery clothes were slowly stained by blood seeping out from her stomach…

It was almost a relief, not to feel anything as the searing pain spiked into numbness. I woke up again when the voice of Artemis entered my mind, telling me to get ready. I saw Artemis running towards us, with a half-crazed Atlas charging after her. Ichor flowed liberally the giant's body: the hundreds of arrow wounds, all in vulnerable and…painful places. In a fluid motion, the goddess slammed into us and slid on the ground baseball-style, freeing both of us from the weight and sending Atlas back into his original spot. If he weren't so desperate in trying to kill me earlier, I might even pity him for a tiny bit.

My last memory before completely blacking out was of Annabeth and Thalia leaning over me. Annabeth was crying like her heart would break, and Thalia's eyes were sparking with electricity, the same expression she held whenever she got extremely pissed at someone. _Hopefully that "someone" is not me…_

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**Yay! Another chapter is in store! **

**p.s. Has anyone discovered any typos and stuff from the previous chapters? If you did, please PM me or leave a review! And there will be rewards too. I will be needing OCs very soon in my story, so those who help me with bug-picking will be considered for an OC! So come on, people, show me what you got!**


	14. Chapter 14 Battle of the Labyrinth

**Author's Notes: Hey everybody, I am back with another update! But first of all, I need to apologize for my words in the previous chapters where I demanded more reviews. I admit that I was quite rash in that sentence. From now on, I will write because of my love for writing, not because of the number of reviews I get. Thanks so much, Pjcrazy, for teaching me that precious lesson.**

**Pjcrazy: (puffs up chest) See, I told you I was awesome.**

**Me: (grinning menacingly) Maybe, but don't think for one second that I would not come after you if you don't work faster editing my chapters. There are still readers out there that are waiting for an update.**

**Pjcrazy: (grumbles and stalks off muttering)**

**And, just in case anybody is confused, Katniss' age progression in this story is as follows:**

**12 years old: Chapters 1 to 7**

**13 years old: Chapters 7 to 10**

**14 years old: Chapters 11 to 15.**

**So, without further ado, I bid you enjoy the chapter!**

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_You know, you do need to stop waking up like this._ A tiny voice in my head said, or rather reprimanded me. _Stop passing out after every single important event! _I haven't opened my eyes yet, but I could recognize the coolness of the water anywhere. I felt safe and comfortable, as I had been in dad's palace. _Ah, seems that I have been saved by my awesome Poseidon powers yet again. Thank gods Annabeth pushed me into the water before the blood loss became fatal._ I rubbed my eyes and opened them groggily. Sure enough, Annabeth was sitting on the beach with my head in her lap, allowing the rest of my body to get fully immersed in the sea. It was just like the old times, when we had went to the beach together as kids and played for the entire weekend. Annabeth would be smiling and stoking my hair like a big sister, and reading a book at the same time, while I relaxed and allowed myself to drift on the ocean surface like a piece of driftwood. _No worries, no monsters or gods trying to kill me, no death quests…_ those must have been some of the best times of my life. _Only this time…_

Then it all came back to me…the exploded car, the fight on mount Orthrys, and…_the resurrection of Kronos. _I panicked, shot up as quickly as I could, but somehow lost my balance and dunked my face in the water, and came up coughing and spitting seaweed.

"I didn't know you could still get choked on water." Annabeth regarded my doubled-up form with a slight, teasing smile, "Isn't it supposed to be a Poseidon thing to be able to 'not-drown' at all times?" she drew an imaginary quotation mark in the air with her fingers.

"The monsters…where are they?" I wheezed between violent coughs.

Annabeth's face morphed into a smirk as she proudly announced that we were at a tiny spot on the beaches of San Francisco, where Luke and his minions haven't discovered yet. We were safe… for the moment.

"Annabeth…I am so sorry…about Luke…" I said haltingly, awkwardly, but my voice soon faltered as I remembered how it was _my_ blood that completed the last piece of the puzzle and allowed Kronos to live again. I squeezed my eyes shut. _Had it only been this morning?_

"Don't do this to yourself, Katniss." Annabeth sighed, "I know it is not your fault. Thalia told me everything."

"But he is alive now, and we just lost the golden opportunity to take Luke to Olympus in chains. Now there is no way for him to turn back to our side, Annie." I whispered, knowing full well of Annabeth's _relationship _with Luke and how much she wanted to give him a second chance.

"It's fine. We have more reason to fight him then." Annabeth squeezed out a sad smile, "It wasn't your fault, Katniss. If you hadn't come, he would have used mine." She gave my shoulders a reassuring squeeze as I unsteadily rose back on land. "Plus, we have bigger issues to worry about for now."

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She took me on a short trudge on the wet, sandy beach. Soon, something silverish flashed at the corners of my eye, and we soon came across a makeshift Hunter's Camp. The silver fabric of the tent glinted in the setting sun, and we could clearly make out three figures inside as we zipped open the door and glanced inside hesitantly.

Zoe was lying on a flat surface (there wasn't very much cushioning so it fell below my standard of "bed") and was convulsing painfully, even though the blood has already been stopped. Lady Artemis was sitting on a stool by her side, holding her hand and muttering Greek words of encouragement. Thalia was running back and forth between the sea and the tent, delivering and changing the cold, wet towels on her forehead.

"What happened?" I asked quietly, hoping that I'm not standing in the way and making a fool of myself.

"Zoe got hurt while facing the dragon in the Garden of Twilight. The wound is poisoned yet she still managed to pull herself together for that long. I am afraid the best window to seek medication has already passed. There might be nothing more we could do to save you, my lieutenant." Artemis replied softly, although the last part of her sentence was more directed towards Zoe than me.

Zoe struggled to open her eyes for a tiny bit. "My lady," she said, barely audible. "Have I served thee well?"

"With great honor," Artemis said softly. "You were the finest of the attendants."

Zoe's face relaxed. "Then I can rest in peace."

"I can try to heal the poison, my brave one." Artemis said.

But Zoe said nothing, merely squinted and grabbed my hand among the others.

"Katniss… I wished you could have become my sister among the ranks of Hunters, but I also respect your choice for not joining." She smiled weakly. "I am honored to have held up the sky by your side, my friend."

"I…" a lump formed at my throat. I could not say anything. It was hard to see someone you knew on the verge of dying, even if it is someone that you only knew for a short while… _very hard._

"Do not fret over my death, young one. I do not fear death. I have already had over 2000 years to prepare myself for the probability of death. I can only say I am happy to have been able to serve for this long." Zoe grimaced, but touched my face gently nonetheless.

She then turned to the other inhabitants of the room, leaving me alone for the minute to compose my feelings. Yet meanwhile, my brains were churning at rocket speed. _I am not going to let her die at my hands, I owe her one, and Thalia as well. Oh, Thalia, my cousin… _I thought to myself as I focused my eyes on Thalia, who was barely holding back tears as she held Zoe's hand and listened to what she has to say.

"You could try to heal her with water though." Annabeth leaned in and whispered in my ear, as if she somehow read my thoughts. "I think I once read about the Hesperides being the children of a sea goddess… Pleione, I think it was…"

"Right, that sounds reasonable, we have to try." I said, louder, trying to draw attention from everyone in the tent. If there is still hope, then I am not going to be the one that is going to let it go.

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The healing ritual turned out to be a lot easier than expected. As soon as we gently dragged Zoe into the water, she started to heal at a visible rate, and I didn't even have to do anything other than making sure that she does not drown in the sea when she wakes up and starts to thrash around

With Zoe up and running within a few short minutes, Artemis' eyes watered as she hugged Zoe tightly. She also shook my hand and promised a godly gift for me the next time I got the chance to visit Olympus. And best of all, she promised me her aid and the hunters in the event that the monsters attacked the camp. I gave a sigh of relief, now knowing we had allies.

"Now, I must go to Olympus immediately to inform the gods of this issue at Mount Othrys. Come with me, my hunters." Artemis boarded her silver moon chariot and waved her hand.

Annabeth and I knew we couldn't follow them, so we just exchanged hugs and parting words with our Hunter friends and waved goodbye. I could have just summoned blackjack and followed them, but one stern look from Annabeth told me that the camp was in trouble, and I should know it better than her.

"You were quite impressive, figuring out the entrance to the Labyrinth and all that _without_ my help. I must say I was surprised, Katniss. I must have been a _great _influence on you." Annabeth feigned heart attack, after explaining that she had this dream of Nico and me travelling down the Labyrinth.

_Oh no…Nico!_ I mentally cursed myself for having forgotten him so easily, despite having sworn on the River Styx to protect him. Where was he now?

"We need to go back to camp." I said.

"Relax, seaweed brain, I got it all sorted." She smiled and pointed to a small cave in the distance. "There is another entrance five miles or so from here, but it lies in the very heart of Kronos' lair. Think you are up for another training session?" She smiled and whacked me playfully. "Last one to the entrance is a loser!" She laughed and started to run, just like our short races when we were kids.

"Oh, the race is_ so_ on, Annie." I muttered and took out Riptide, but ran after her with a smile anyway. _It was so nice to have Annabeth back._

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For once, Annabeth's plan failed catastrophically. As we slashed and hacked at the awaiting monsters, the monsters just seemed to come out from nowhere and replenish themselves, and we were still quite a distance away from the glowing blue triangle that had been etched into the wall. We were just lucky enough that Kronos himself was not here, or else we were probably going to be completely wiped us out with a simple wave of his hand.

Finally, as my breathing became hitched and unsteady, I settled on a last-ditch plan. I couldn't keep this up for much longer, but maybe if I… summoned a huge wave, giving those monsters a salty bath. It may not be all that deadly, but it sure did confuse them enough to allow us enter the cave without being noticed. I pumped my fist in victory, and exchanged a quick giggle with Annabeth. Hand in hand, we plunged back into the darkness underground.

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Going back to the labyrinth again proved to be a nightmare. Although it was not the I-will-scream-my-lungs-out-and-remain-awake-for-th e-rest-of-the-night type of nightmare, it certainly wasn't that welcomed either. We tried to make conversation about our recent adventures, with Annabeth and I being separated for days and all, but it wasn't that easy as you might expect. There was just something about the oppressive darkness of the Labyrinth that discouraged conversation.

The time was passing slowly, and the darkness was unnerving. After a few hours, we slowly turned our topic towards jokes and riddles to lighten up the depressing mood in the darkness, but suddenly our flashlights died out, miraculously, at the same time. Before I could scream and demand that we stop to change the batteries, there was a creaking noise in front of us, like the old hinge of a door.

"Run?" I squeaked.

"Run." Judging from the trembling voice of Annabeth, she was pretty frightened too.

We turned back and fled the way we came from, but we didn't make it twenty feet before two Dracaenae in Greek armor stopped us. I uncapped Riptide, and Annabeth pulled out her knife. A dozen or more monsters appeared and surrounded us, making my mind swarm with all kinds of jokes about déjà vu scenarios, which are certainly not that helpful for us other than making the monsters angry.

We put up a pretty good fight, but I admit I was overpowered pretty quickly. Annabeth was amazing, of course. Her knife was just the right length for this kind of close-quarters combat, and she was pretty fast, which made her a deadly fighter. Me? There just isn't much room to swing a two foot long bronze sword in the cramped confines of the mines, and aiming a bow and arrow? Forget it. I was pretty much doomed from the start, and once I was captured, Annabeth was forced to surrender when the monsters threatened me.

"Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here." A giant hissed and prodded us with javelins. "I think you will provide the perfect entertainment for us."

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We were bound and gagged roughly and taken to a dark cavern that led to a dark, gloomy arena. The floor was covered with fine particles of sand, and there were cages that protected the spectators from injury. I gasped. This was exactly the same place that I had dreamed of! I could hear the muffled screams of Annabeth as she tried to spit out the gag, but it proved to be harder than it seemed. I recognized the two thrones from my dream, which seemed to be the VIP seats with the best viewpoints, but again, somehow Kronos/Luke wasn't there. I was just about to ask our captors where "their mighty lord Kronos" was, when the spectators (all of them are monsters) roared. I craned my head, and saw the barely clothed giant with the name Anteaus tattooed on his stomach saunter back into the arena. _You'd think that they just half-time interlude with a baseball game or something…_

In short, the arena itself was rather huge, with chains hanging from above and a door at each end: one for hero, one for beast. The one that supplied the hero was incredibly close to the place we are now, so close in fact, that the intention was awfully clear: they were going to send us in there very soon.

As I watched and tried to pick up any tips that might be useful when it was my turn, a demigod with an eye patch stepped up and fought against three hellhounds at once. It was brutal as the dogs left deep scratch marks on the demigod's skin, but the demigod fought hard and won. He turned to the crowd and bowed, brushing off the monster dust that settled on his arm.

Another monster that looked like some sort of army general (If it was Atlas, I would have recognized him) grunted and raised his thumb. "Well done, Nakamura. You are worthy of joining the army."_ A demigod on the side of the monsters…TRAITOR! _I silently cursed in ancient Greek.

But the giant Anteaus (I have decided to call him that until I find out his real name) grunted and roared with boredom: "This is not entertaining enough, general…Give me something more entertaining, and I might let you pass these halls."

The general frowned, and then turned to one of his minions. "Bring out that troublesome demigod, perhaps he will suffice."

Another side door creaked open, revealing a bruised and battered demigod in purple shirt, tightly bound with ropes. He looked like he had been through an epic fight, with lots of monster dust staining his clothes, almost making it look golden. As I looked on with interest, the boy looked like…wait…this _was _the demigod from my dream!

He looked up murderously at Anteaus and the general, and spat at their direction. But Anteaus doesn't seem to be offended at all as his eyes widened in amusement. "This one has spirit. Is he one of us?"

The general sighed. "No. He has made his stand abundantly clear. He is a very powerful one. We were only able to capture him by using our demigods to trick him into an ambush." He scoffed. "Ah…those demigods and their silly hero complex…you can almost predict their every move."

Anteaus grinned. "Throw him into the ring. His kind usually makes the best fighter."

The demigod's ropes were cut and his captors rudely shoved him forward. He gasped and staggered to his feet. The "Monster Door" opened, and out came two Cyclopes with huge clubs. The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen just like mine, and clicked it. A bronze blade sprang from his hand. He ran straight at the two advancing Cyclopes and killed one of them with a straight thrust to the stomach. Then he jumped on top of the dissolving Cyclops and used it as a spring to leap even higher, bringing his blade down through the other one's head. He was an amazing fighter.

He turned and eyed Anteaus with extreme hatred. "Anteaus, I have no time for your petty little games. I need to get back to San Francisco immediately, and I need passage through your halls. LET ME THROUGH!"

Anteaus yawned and waved his hand dismissively. "No. Provide me some more entertainment, and we might have a deal.

The "Monster Door" reopened, and three monsters came in, one Dracaenae and two hellhounds. Again, the boy killed them easily.

When the door opened a third time and let in three hellhounds, one Cyclops, and a Dracaenae all at once, I gulped. There was no way any demigod on earth could fight those things at the same time. But the boy didn't seem to mind that much. He charged straight towards them.

Meanwhile, the monsters seemed to be so enthralled with the fight going on before their eyes that nobody noticed Annabeth stealthily sawing through our ropes with her knife.

We were about to sneak away as quietly as possible, but just then, the demigod boy seemed to blank out for a second after he cut off the head of the Cyclops, completely forgetting that there was still a hellhound charging straight for his back. I need to do something. _He was one of us after all, though he seems to be a bit different. _

"Look out!" I screamed.

That probably wasn't the wisest thing to say, for all I did was startle the boy and make him even more distracted than he was. He turned to me. Green eyes met green. I could almost hear him gasp and wonder who I was, when suddenly the hellhound leapt up for the fatal blow. There was no time to lose. I grabbed Annabeth's knife and threw it as hard as I could. The knife flew straight between the eyes of the giant dog and embedded itself in the wall, right above the boy's head.

Anteaus roared with excitement and gave a garbled yell of something. But the next thing I knew, I got shoved into the arena as well. I looked around, slightly disoriented. A hand closed over my shoulder. It was the demigod I just saved.

He smiled and offered a hand to pull me up. "Thanks. My name is Percy."

"Katniss," I returned.

The doors opened once more, and almost ten monsters came out this time. I brought out my own sword, which made Percy raise his eyebrow in surprise and glance at his own sword.

We shared a quick smile, an instant bond of friendship forming. There was no time to talk. We raised our swords and charged straight towards the monsters.

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As I slashed the throat of one of the Dracaenae, I realized that Percy and I seemed to make the perfect team. We were fighting in perfect synchronicity, even though we had never seen each other before. We had the same style of fighting and seemed to have the same way of thinking too. We could communicate through quick glances at each other and short, quick gestures. We _understood _each other. When I lashed out and a group of monsters with my sword, he would cover my back with his own. When he charged straight into the horde, I would do a quick maneuver and attack the monsters from behind. When I overextended, he leapt in front of me to prevent the monsters taking the advantage. When he took an overly reckless move, I killed the monster that would have killed him. It was as natural as breathing.

Soon, the arena floor was scattered with golden particles of monster dust. We shared a tired grin and shook hands.

Percy looked up to Anteaus. "I trust _that _was entertaining enough? Do you allow us passage _now?_"

Anteaus stroked his beard, only…he didn't even have a beard. As it was, he looked pretty ridiculous stroking his bare chin. He seemed to come to a decision, and smiled. "No."

Percy spoke quietly, though I could feel him seething inwardly. "I have no time for this, monster. I have just fought a horde of monsters alongside my friend for your _entertainment._ Now, release us."

Anteaus yawned. "No. Not entertaining enough. Besides, you are demigods." He leaned forward and leered at us. "Your deaths, though, would be _extremely _entertaining." He clapped his meaty hands. "Send in the big guns."

Now it was _my _turn to seethe. And when I was angry… I…tend to do…irrational things. _Like…this._ "So you want to see us die, do you?" I spoke quietly too, feeling my anger rise like a rolling wave. "Well, good luck with that." I swept my hands over the arena. "Your monsters aren't going to have any luck against us, so hear me, Anteaus." My voice steadily grew louder with each word. I felt Percy grip my hand, but I shrugged it off. "Why don't _you _fight us, then? Big guy on a fancy throne sending monsters to fight because he's too scared of getting his hands dirty, take that away, what are you? If we defeat you, we get to pass. If you defeat us, then you get your fair share of entertainment." And as an afterthought, "Give you some exercise too…"

Beside me, Percy facepalmed, but his face soon picked up into a grin. "That probably wasn't the wisest move, but I probably would have said the same thing."

"VERY WELL… I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE, FOOLISH DEMIGODS!" Anteaus walked into the ring, wielding a huge club. He was so slow and clumsy, maybe a little more than the average cyclops, but still very clumsy. _This should be easy…_my gaze fell on the huge pile of skulls neatly stacked near the altar…_oh…wait…maybe not_.

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First score went to us, of course. I ran left, and Percy ran right, each anticipating each other's movements. The giant, obviously perceiving Percy as the bigger threat, as he was taller and probably a bit stronger, swung at him, leaving his left side unprotected. I scored a deep gash on his left side. As expected, he roared in pain and swung his heavy club towards me, now leaving his _right _side unprotected. Percy stabbed deep into the giant's kidneys. _That should kill him for sure. _We both stepped back as the giant roared in agony, fully expecting him to burst into dust.

Instead, the sand of the arena rose _up _to him, caking his wounds in a thick layer of sand, then falling off to reveal… two unmarked, perfectly healed sides. I gaped in disbelief. _What the…_ The giant laughed. "Foolish demigods, now do you see why I never lose?"

"Katniss…His mother is Gaia, the earth!" A scream came from behind me, but it was quickly silenced as one of the monsters clamped a scaly hand over Annabeth's mouth. Gaia? Earth? It hit me then. His mother was the earth; therefore, the earth healed him whenever he was wounded! I turned to Percy and shouted urgently. "The earth, it heals him whenever he gets hurt! How are we supposed to beat that?"

Percy looked deep in thought, then, his gaze drifted upwards, and then put on a rather an evil smirk. "We get him _off _the earth."

I looked up too, and saw all the chains and hooks hanging from the roof, and a similar smile crept over my face. "Let's do it."

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In the few seconds before Anteaus reached us, we quickly formulated a plan of attack. I was more nimble, so I would be topside, while Percy would help out below. When the unsuspecting giant reached us, we put our plan into action. Percy kicked him hard in the groin, and when he doubled over, screaming in pain, I quickly stepped onto his head. His natural response, obviously, was to straighten up with an indignant "Hey!" launching me up into the chains, I quickly grabbed one of them and hung on, waiting for Percy to put his part of the plan into action.

Percy nimbly danced around the ring, always scoring gashes and cuts over the giant and getting none in return. Anteaus ran blindly at him, half-crazed with anger. Apparently, he still didn't realize that 1. I wasn't on the ground anymore, 2. That Percy was leading him ever closer to where I was waiting, and 3. There was a wickedly pointed hook in my hands, secured with a long piece of chain.

The rest of the plan executed as smoothly as the first parts. Percy led him closer and closer to me, and then leapt back hurriedly. I hooked the barbed piece of iron into his loincloth before he realized anything was wrong, looped a part of the chain over one of the rafters of the ceiling as a makeshift pulley and threw the other end to Percy. I leapt down to join him, and together we pulled as hard as we could. The giant screamed and flailed as he was pulled higher and higher of the ground, suspended by his loincloth. Percy gave me another boost, sending me up into the forest of chains and dangling metal objects, and I scrambled around, throwing more lengths of chain around the giant, looping chains over his arms, throwing chains together in knots, putting more hooks through the cloth. Soon, there was a very miserable giant completely trussed up in chains and dangling from the ceiling.

I smirked and looked at Percy, who was admiring my handiwork. "Shall we put him out of his misery?"

He shrugged and did a sweeping bow. "Ladies first," he said with a fake English accent.

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I smiled and plunged my sword deep into Anteaus' stomach. Percy joined me a moment later with a sword to his heart. The sand around our feet rose and tried to reach him, but he was too high, and we watched in satisfaction as Anteaus dissolved into monster dust.

Yet, the victory was short-lived. We didn't receive applause and respect as the gladiators of old, but was greeted with wrath and fury from thousands of monsters. A few tore through the protective cages of the spectators' seat with a roar, while others approached us without any difficulty.

We were trapped, and hopelessly outnumbered. Percy and I stood, back to back. "I'm all out of tricks," He whispered. "What about you?"

The truth was, I did. My heart slowly sank back to its original position as I felt something in my pocket—a freezing sensation, growing colder and colder. _The dog whistle, for Mrs. O Leary…_For days, I have been avoiding to use Quintus' gift, but now, it doesn't seem that I have that much of a choice. I took it out of my pocket and blew. It made no audible sound, but the whistle itself seemed to warm up.

A surprised yelp came behind me. The Dracaenae who was guarding Annabeth flew past me and smashed into the wall, in a rather comical fashion. For a moment, the monsters in the audience were caught by surprise. Even Percy had his mouth wide open, gaping at the one and only tame hellhound in the world. I grinned and held out my hand. "Move, move along, let's go!" I yelled at my two friends and reached out for the black mastiff's collar. "Heel, Mrs. O Leary!"

"The far exit is the right way!" Annabeth cried.

Together, the three of us rode on top of the hellhound across the arena in the far exit.

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Percy took his leave after we were a good distance away from the arena. Even though the monsters were still chasing us enthusiastically, he thanked us for the short ride we gave him, and said he needed to go back to San Francisco right away, saying that he had some business to attend to. He gave us some very valuable information about our quest, though. He left through one of the many hundreds of tunnels in the labyrinth. I was sorry to see him go. Maybe we would meet again some day, and find out more about each other. Meanwhile, I thought about what Percy had revealed. He told us about Daedalus. To seek a man named "Quintus", "the fifth" and he was a reformed-version of the great inventor Daedalus. If we were going to stop the monsters use the labyrinth once and for all, we needed to find him and kill him, because this single man was the life force of the Labyrinth itself

_Quintus…_my blood ran cold. _He is at Camp Half-Blood…and our swords master!_

"Aargh…I am so stupid. Of course…I should have known…wait, why didn't I know this?" Annabeth scowled as we continued to ride along the dark halls of the Labyrinth on the back of the black hellhound. _She hated not-knowing anything…_

"But we couldn't just lead the monsters right back to camp!" I protested, turning my head around to see if any monsters have caught up with us.

"We don't have any choice I am afraid." Annabeth shrugged, and let the conversation drop. "Take us home, Mrs. O Leary." We melted into a patch of shadow.

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Of course, the monsters just had to arrive not long after we did. That fact provoked some raised eyebrows around the campers, and I tried to ignore the comments of how we brought the monsters back here. These words were hurtful, yes, but everyone quickly rallied around the entrance to the labyrinth in full battle armor nonetheless. I met an extremely welcome face there: Nico. He had survived the explosion by accidentally travelling into his father's realm. His father had been surprised, of course, and Nico received a super-fast crash course into becoming a true son of Hades. He wore full black armor and wielded a Stygian iron sword, and the shadows themselves seemed to follow his control. I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight.

It was almost like last summer when the bulls attacked out borders, with Greek fires everywhere and campers forming phalanx teams. But this time, the Hephaestus cabin guys brought out all the big stuff: catapults, automatic crossbows, and even Bronze barbed wires. And we had help. One hundred Hunters, who were all dressed in their silver garments and wielding bows arrived to help us. At their head was Lady Artemis herself, in full battle armor. Beside her, Apollo blasted music on his personal, godly speakers, and adjusted his shades. _We were ready._

The monsters that came out were just completely endless, probably the entire arena and the entire cruise-ship combined. Laistrygonians erupted from the ground, wielding smashed cars as their shields, and hellhounds (not Mrs. O Leary I assure you), were tossing campers to the side like rag dolls. We spent nearly two hours fighting. Slashing, stabbing, dodging, defending, killing, and narrowly avoiding being killed. The hunters rained hundreds of thousands of arrows on the army. By some miracle or maybe or their super aiming skills, the arrows only hit the monsters, never striking a camper. Apollo and Artemis were wondrous to behold, clearing hundreds of monsters at once with their godly powers. They couldn't risk showing their true forms, not with all the campers and hunters around, but they were still freaking amazing. I scoured the entire camp looking for Quintus, and finally found him fighting alongside Nico. His powerful automaton arms had changed into swords, he was slashing down monsters like a submarine propeller blade. There wasn't any time to talk, but I shoot my best 'I-will-deal-with-you- later' glare. _No words were exchanged, yet he somehow looked…relieved._

Nico then showed us an awesome trick his father had taught him, stabbing his sword into the ground and calling up skeletons to fight for him. They were a great help, as they didn't feel pain and could still continue fighting even if stabbed. _My _contribution was an earthquake that wiped out what was left of the invading army. Being the daughter of the earth shaker certainly has its perks, although I passed out for three straight hours after that.

When I woke, the battle was over, and the ground near Zeus' fist was covered in a layer of monster dust nearly three inches thick. There were deaths, of course: A son of Dionysus, three unclaimed demigods from the Hermes cabin, two children of Ares, a son of Hephaestus, and nearly ten hunters. We were all saddened by the loss, though Nico promised that he would get his dad to streamline them to Elysium. There were also lots of injured demigods, but with the god of healing on hand, most of the major injuries were healed pretty fast, so even the ridiculous haikus were tolerated by the campers.

The problem with Daedalus was also quickly solved, too. I had been surprised when Annabeth told me he was a son of Athena, but a few minutes later, after an intense history lesson from Annabeth, I learned how he had constructed the Labyrinth for the Minotaur, his escape from Crete with his son Icarus using bronze wings he had invented, and how he had murdered his nephew out of jealousy and ended up getting cursed by Athena. He was a thousand year old spirit living in a mechanical body he had built himself.

To my surprise, Daedalus willingly gave himself up. I found him talking quietly with Nico in a clearing in the woods. I admit I was a little surprised, because Nico would probably be more than willing to take his life away, especially when he is just an automaton, and his soul has been living for some thousands of years, but he seemed at peace with the idea of death. Before he left, he entrusted Annabeth with a laptop that contained all his ideas and plans, causing her to almost faint with delight. He asked me to look after Mrs. O Leary for him after he was gone, and then slowly disintegrated into a pile of gears and levers when Nico put his hand on his Daedalus' shoulder gently. We stood in silence for a few minutes, silently mourning for the greatest mortal inventor of all times, who welcomed death as if it was his old friend.

Of course, now would have been an excellent time to lie under the lake and just rest and relax, but the gods obviously had other plans. Blackjack nuzzled me gently, and told me that the gods wanted to see me at the council. And of course, Annabeth refused to let me out of her sight again, so both of us mounted Blackjack, and took to the skies.

_What do they want this time?_

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**By now, the major part of the story has been wrapped up. So the next chapter is going to be an epilogue that leads straight into the sequel! Again, more reviews would be appreciated, but I am not going to force you do it.**


	15. Chapter 15 Epilogue

**Author's Notes: Hello everyone, here is the epilogue of the story as promised! **

**A big shout out to Cookie Spasms, who turned out to be the very first reviewer of the last chapter: Thank you so much! You just made my day!**

**For those of you who are interested, the sequel to this story will come up a few months later, mainly because school life is getting busier for both me and my beta Pjcrazy. And I would really appreciate it if people just click on the "Follow Author" button below so that you guys will be notified once the sequel is up.**

**Again, thanks so much for being a bunch of awesome readers, and I hope we will meet each other again soon!**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

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_Olympus, city of the gods…I have returned._ I smiled as I gingerly traced the thin cracks of the elegant porcelain rims of the fountain bowl with my fingers. Three years ago, I completely destroyed this piece of art during a fight with Ares, the war god. It had been repaired by magic, of course, but there was still a surge of pride when I thought about it. Two years ago, Annabeth, Clarisse and I were standing in the exact same spot when we ran into Hermes, got two presents from him, which were indeed quite useful during our quest in the Sea of Monsters. Now, as I set foot onto the narrow skywalks for the third time in the past three years, the city of Olympus greeted me with the same grandeur and majesty as if it hadn't even aged a day._ But then again, it isn't called "the eternal city" for nothing…_

However, as Annabeth and I strode through the streets of Olympus, holding Blackjack's reins, the dark side of the eternal city became painfully evident. The atmosphere was no longer filled with golden scents of flowers and silvery notes of music. The hawkers at the stalls had blank faces, and the prices have skyrocketed. There was no laughter, only a grim silence, which proved to be quite unnerving for an ADHD demigod like me. The only audible noise came from the forges to the north, where clouds of smoke billowed from the chimneys, and the clanging of metals could be heard from miles away. I instinctively knew what they were making. Weapons, Olympus was preparing for war.

A war was coming.

A war between Kronos and the gods,

I kept my head down as we walked through the marketplace, trying my best to be as inconspicuous as possible. Naturally, it didn't work. Whispers and murmurs followed me wherever I went, and the hushed tones of the speakers expressed a mixture of emotions varying from admiration to pure fury. Suddenly, Annabeth gasped. My head shot up, looking for caught her attention. Annabeth immediately tried to distract me by picking up a pair of Aphrodite QC jeans and babbled about how nice it looked _(I suppose the QC was supposed to stand for "quality-control?")_, but my gaze inevitably fell on the _Hermes' UPS Convenience Store_ off to the side, where stacks of the today's _Olympus Times _piled high on the table at its newspaper-stand section. My own face stared out from the first page, front and center.

I immediately snatched up one of the copies.

"Hey Miss, you have to pay for that!" a man, who obviously owned the place, yelled at me.

Without sparing him another glance, I tossed a drachma onto the desk and flipped to the first page. _**THALIA GRACE STEPS DOWN!**_One of the headlines stated. _**KRONOS RETURNS! **_Another one screamed with a blood-red font. And below it, was _**KATNISS EVERDEEN, THE NEW DEMIGOD OF THE PROPHECY? (See next page) **_There was a small picture of Thalia kneeling before Artemis, obviously taken while she was taking her oath to join eternal maidenhood. But, the rest of the page was covered with several pictures of…me. Twelve year old me, with the lightning bolt in my hands, obviously taken three years ago; thirteen year old me, standing on the beaches of Polyphemus' Island, snarling at the cyclops with Riptide in my hands; and of course, there are also several blurry images of me holding up the sky the other day. In fascinated horror, I flipped the pages again. This time, there was another picture of me and Thalia. Her half of the background was laced with the lightning bolts, and mine was filled with an enormous sea wave. We seemed to be having one of those arguments back at camp.

Annabeth laid a hand on my shoulder. "Katniss, we really should get going." I ignored her and allowed my eyes to zoom in on the article at hand.

_**THALIA GRACE VS KATNISS EVERDEEN**_

_**Who will be the demigod of the prophecy?**_

BY JAMES STEVENS, DEMIGOD SON OF HERMES

**City of Olympus, Olympus –**_**Any mention of demigods and prophecies in the same setting generally conjures up images of quests, battles, or maybe even death. And this was no exception.**_

_**The Great Prophecy, the one prophecy issued by the Oracle of Delphi years ago, warned us of a child of the Big Three and the fateful choice tied to him/her that would either save or destroy the gods. For years, we had thought that Thalia Grace, the daughter of Lord Zeus himself, would be the chosen demigod. Powerful, hotheaded and loyal, she seemed to be the only candidate…until she received fatal injuries and was turned into a pine tree to save her life. **_

_**Immortals all over Olympus then thought it was over. They thought the prophecy may never be fulfilled, until a new demigod was sired: Katniss Everdeen, daughter of Poseidon. She made quite an entrance to fame on her very first quest, finding the Lightning bolt of Lord Zeus and preventing a Civil War between the gods. She has further distinguished herself by finding the Golden Fleece, which saved Camp Half-Blood and healed the aforementioned daughter of Zeus. Thalia Grace might be the one of the prophecy after all, being one full year older than Katniss Everdeen and all that.**_

_**But, things are not always that simple. According to our informant, Thalia Grace has joined the Hunters of Artemis only three days before turning sixteen! Does the prophecy fall to Katniss Everdeen again? What part will Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades play in this matter? **_

_**The gods and goddess of Olympus all have differing opinions of Katniss Everdeen. Some say she is too powerful, and not to be trusted with so much power. And we at the Olympus Times certainly agree with that one. The explosion that rocked Mt St. Helens a few days ago, according to reliable sources, was the sole effort of Katniss Everdeen herself. However, there are also some who say that she would make the right choice for sure. The question is… can she really be trusted? Are the gods secretly afraid of her powers?**_

_**We at Olympus Times will do our utmost to reveal the truth! Next week, stay tuned as we uncover Olympus' newest hero, Katniss Everdeen! Who is she really? What is the story behind the lightning bolt? Who are her friends?**_

_**For more information, please contact Travis Stoll at 537-148-2291.**_

My knees suddenly felt weak, and the paper fell out of my trembling hands. _The Great Prophecy? Destroy or save Olympus? A choice? Me? _I swallowed hard. "Annabeth, what was the prophecy?"

"Katniss, what is happening?" Annabeth said, concern lacing in her voice.

"What is the prophecy? I need to know it right now. Tell me!" I snapped harshly, but immediately softened as Annabeth flinched at my tone. "Please…I need to know." I pleaded.

Her grey eyes held my mine for a full, tense minute, and I could see the gears running in her head. Then she finally nodded and started to recite solemnly, like a priest saying a prayer:

"_A half blood of the eldest gods,_

_Shall reach sixteen against all odds;_

_A single deadly choice to make,_

_The bane of Olympus to stop or wake;_

_To face and deny the fatal flaw,_

_Or succumb and cause the world to fall."_

I slowly sank to the ground, and hid my face between my knees. It was all too much to take in, and I could feel my strengths seeping through some gaping hole in the front of my body, right where my heart was. It was too late to regret about it right now…oh…how I wish I didn't know anything about it in the first place! I never wanted to be the chosen one, the one who would make a choice that has the power to either destroy or save Olympus. _And not just Olympus, _I huffed bitterly. _The impending war would probably wipe out all of civilization, taking away each and every one of those people who had ever mattered to me._

I finally broke down as the quiet whimpers turned into loud cries. It was all too much for me to take in. And all Annabeth could do, was to sit beside me, and gave me a warm hug. She whispered comforting words in my ears, trying to comfort me, but I didn't think it worked.

After quite a long while, I stood up and composed myself. The future cannot be changed by shedding a few tears. All that is meant to come will come to me when the time is right. I just had to focus on surviving till the next year and try not to get vaporized by the gods because I was 'too powerful', according to the _Olympus Times._ Besides, Ares would just call me a wimp when he sees me red-eyed. I had a meeting to attend.

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The Throne Room door opened soundlessly, expressing a silent welcome. I hesitated for a moment, feeling my heart pounding like a giant drum with a drummer who drank too much coffee, so I took a deep breath, felt Annabeth's hand giving me a reassuring squeeze, and stepped into the room.

Twelve enormous thrones made a U around a central hearth, just like the layouts of the buildings at camp. I looked nervously at my father. He was dressed similar the last time I saw him, with the beach shorts and a trident and all that. I wasn't sure how he would feel about seeing me again, but the corners of his eyes crinkled with smile lines. He nodded as if to say _everything is going to be ok._

And of course, there are always the other gods, all twelve Olympians in one place. So much power in this room…it was a plain miracle that the palace hadn't exploded yet. At the moment, Artemis was standing at the centre of the Council calmly demanding that Zeus step up preparations.

I stood at the doorway awkwardly for a moment, not wanting to interrupt, and then when Poseidon gestured subtly to me, I walked over to his throne and sat at the foot of it. Annabeth pleaded me in a whisper to stop pissing off every godly being I see, and went to sit at the foot of her mother's throne, while Athena frowned disapprovingly at me. Artemis paused for a moment to flash me a welcoming smile, and then she continued her speech. At the foot of _her _throne, Thalia and Zoe were waving at us like two enthusiastic little kids.

Artemis finished her request/demand and walked calmly back to her throne. Apollo tried to poke her with a small twig as she sat, but was stopped when he received a frosty glare from Hera.

Zeus cleared his throat. "Katniss Everdeen!" he called/hollered. I rolled my eyes inwardly and stood up, going to the centre of the council and knelt. Of course, as expected, Zeus went off into a _long_ speech about how he was going to thank me for helping both his daughters (Thalia and Artemis) and how I had done many deeds for the gods, blah blah blah… My knees started to go numb on the hard stone floor. _Ugh…next time I am called in for a council meeting, I am going to stuff extra padding in my pants._

Later, after half of the council was actually asleep (emphasis on _actual_), Artemis publicly thanked Thalia, Zoe and me, which made us all go bright red. She thanked us both for coming to save her, and also for the sacrifice, which had strengthened her to continue carrying the sky.

"I gotta say," Apollo proclaimed. "I like her." He flashed me a toothy grin that nearly blinded me from its brightness. "Thanks for saving my little sister. I owe you one." Artemis threw a right hook straight towards his face when he said the word "little sister", but he didn't seem to mind that much. I blushed furiously and had to bite my lips to stop myself from smiling in embarrassment. _The sun god really was hot…_but then he raised his arms. "Hang on a second; I feel a haiku coming on!"

"Um, yes, first class." Hermes interrupted, without even looking up from his caduceus, like he was anxious to avoid Apollo's poetry. _I didn't blame him._

Next was Hephaestus. He shrunk down to human size and shook my hands. He wore a decent-looking suit, which was a lot better than his workshop outfit, and even his leg didn't seem to be too out of place this time. He had definitely dressed up for the occasion. "You have helped me to clear my workshop of the invaders, and even given it a cleansing with lava." He smiled at me, and there was a twinkle in his eye. "You have helped me and given me back the use of my favorite forge, so accept these gifts as my thanks."

My eyebrows rose high. A gift from Lord Hephaestus himself…Wow… He produced two weirdly-shaped paper packages, and handed them to me. I expressed my thanks and tentatively started to tear away the paper wrappings. The first package turned out to be a long, sleek bow. Flame red, with a stylized fire design running through its length, with a matching full quiver of arrows. Together, they cast a bright red glow, just like fire, but they weren't hot to touch at all.

"You like archery don't you?" He clapped me on the shoulder and smiled at my bewildered expression. "I made this for you. Personalized design, with the blessings of Apollo and Artemis over there (Artemis smiled at me while Apollo flashed a heroic pose)…and…oh yes…the quiver has an unlimited supply of celestial bronze, imperial gold and consecrated silver arrows."

And of course, the other gift was just as stunning: a set of celestial bronze armor, complete with a helmet, and there were intricate flame designs etched on every single inch of the metal. The whole thing was woven with a web of intricate magic, like the high-grade armors sold only in the luxurious sections of the stores, only this time, this was a gift for me, and everything was a perfect fit to my size.

"Thank you so much, Lord Hephaestus." I gasped. This was an amazing gift! My fingers traced the stylized raised fire designs on the bow. "Except… why did you put those fire designs? Not that I don't like it, of course."I hurriedly added as my eyes secretly drifted towards my dad. I was a daughter of Poseidon, yet right now, my outfits were covered with flames. _Uh…hope he will not turn me into a puddle of sea water for ridiculous reasons such as 'losing the heritage of the sea' or something._

"No problem. I always reward valiant acts with wonderful gifts. As for the fire…you'll have to ask Apollo on that one. He burst into my forge yesterday and yelled about changing the designs…so…there you have it." He grinned, and walked back to his throne.

Athena then spoke up. "While I thank the sea spawn-" Annabeth and Poseidon both glared at her. "-ahem, _Katniss,_ for saving my daughter, yet we still need to decide her fate. She is still a child of the Big Three, and most likely the demigod of the prophecy, and therefore potentially very dangerous. Should we risk letting her live?"

Poseidon stood up and slammed his trident on the ground, causing a minor quake to shake the throne room. "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, ATHENA?" He forced out through gritted teeth. I gulped and looked around the room. Annabeth looked frozen with horror, as was Thalia and Zoe.

Athena backed down slightly, but her gaze was still defiant. "She is too unpredictable and too powerful! The explosion at Mt. St. Helens proved that! How do we know we can trust her?!"

The throne room erupted into a flurry of arguments. Gods started yelling at each other, and I saw many gods reaching for their items of power. _Uh oh…things were getting worse, and disastrous, and…did I say disastrous?_

Hephaestus cleared his throat loudly. "Cousins, Typhon himself wasn't released at all in the end anyways, was he?" He produced a hammer and shield from his belt and slammed them against each other, causing everyone to quiet down. "Speaking of children of the Big Three…" He clapped his hand, and an automaton walked into the room. Zoe and Thalia let out loud gasps of disbelief and fear. At a snap of Hephaestus' fingers, the robot's front section swung open, revealing a dark haired, olive-skinned girl, unconscious.

_What the…_my brains did a 360 degree flip before landing back into my skull. Similarly, Thalia and Zoe let out loud gasps and ran towards her. "Bianca!"

Hephaestus snapped his fingers, and the automaton responded by pulling out his sword and stepping in front of Bianca. "How did-?"I managed to get out the words. "What just happened?"

Zoe stepped forward. "Lord Hephaestus…how is this possible? We saw your automaton fall on her! She would have been crushed!"

Hephaestus flashed a rather proud grin: "My automaton fell on her, yes, that is correct. It might seem that she is dead from the outside, but she is actually being transported to my palace through a chip at the automaton's core. That daughter of Hades is certainly very hard to capture."

Zeus boomed: "She is a child of Hades? Then I shall smite her!" He took out his Master Bolt, lifted it up like a javelin player and waited for it to charge. I was shocked. How was this fair? Zeus would let me live and not kill Thalia, but he would strike down Bianca without a qualm? This was wrong. I did the only thing I could.

"No!" I leapt forward and threw myself between the sizzling Master Bolt and the prone form of Bianca lying on the ground. I concentrated my thoughts, completely unaware of the surprised yelps of the other gods as a shield of water formed in front of me. Two other people stood by my side, forming a line to protect the unconscious girl with our own bodies. Annabeth tried to come too, but Athena pulled her back. Zeus was shocked to see me and his daughter run in front of the bolt, but it was already too fully charged for him to draw back. Zeus' lightning bolt flared, releasing a whole universe of bright white and golden colors.

There was a huge explosion. I felt nothing. Gradually, voices began to enter my head and I began to feel surprised. If I was dead, how come I could still hear? There were loud shouts and arguments around me. I slowly forced an eye open. Everything was in utter chaos. The gods were all yelling at each other, and Zeus seemed to have been tackled by my father, as he was now tightly pinned to the floor with a trident pointing straight at his throat. Thalia, Zoe, Bianca and I were in sort of a group hug. Surprisingly enough, none of us were dead. We weren't even singed slightly. Bianca woke up from the mighty explosion and was observing her surroundings with fearful eyes. She seemed to relax when she saw Zoe, though. Zoe fumbled with her ropes and took out her gag. We were all still pretty much shell-shocked, so we stayed in the hugging position and would not let go.

As it turned out, my water shield hadn't been necessary. Apparently, there were quite a few gods on our side. Poseidon had immediately knocked Zeus' hand away with his trident, throwing his aim slightly off course. We still would have been fried, if not for Apollo and Artemis throwing a huge energy shield around us, and Hermes and Hephaestus pitching in. We were safe. As for Annabeth, she was glaring at her mother Athena, who just stared impassively ahead.

"Lord Zeus, please, you cannot kill somebody just because of something they might do."

Zeus' groaned at this turn of events, "Yeah, yeah. I had Poseidon yell in my ear about that. Someone go and get Hades up here." He ordered, and Hermes flashed out, only to return a few minutes later with a black-cloaked figure by his side: it was Lord Hades himself.

"What has happened here? Why is my child hugging that sea spawn?" Hades drawled, completely ignoring the fact that I am still in the room and listening.

Poseidon cleared his throat, retrieved his trident, stood up, and said haltingly: "Brother… Hephaestus found your daughter and brought her here. Zeus tried to blast your daughter and my daughter and her friends tried to protect yours. Because of my daughter, I was forced to intervene. You might say that Katniss and her friends saved your daughter." He rambled on, but I was lost at the words 'brought her here', so the latter words didn't really make any sense to me.

"I was just trying to remove a potential threat." Zeus muttered as he sat back to his throne. "You violated the oath…"

"And you think my daughter is a potential threat?" Hades growled. "I will show you what 'potential threat' is, _little_ brother! You took Maria away from me! I am not going to let you take my kids too!" A cluster of dark energy began to form around Hades' clenched fists, making Zeus back up. _Apparently nobody wanted to receive the wrath of the dead._ "And don't talk to me about violating the oath! What of Thalia Grace? What of Katniss Everdeen? My daughter was born _before _the oath was taken!" he gestured to the sparking bolt in Zeus' hands angrily. "I put her in the Lotus Casino to protect her!" his voice became deathly quiet. "Don't you find it ironic that out of all of you, only _I _was able to keep my oath?" he glared contemptuously at Zeus.

"Lord Hades, stop this! It is no use fighting amongst ourselves! It would only weaken us as a whole!" I raised my voice and put my hands up in a placating gesture. "What you need to be doing is learning to trust us as heroes! Like I said, you cannot punish us just by something we might do."

"This demigod has a point." Demeter chimed in, "You all need more cereal."

"Shut up Demeter!" Hades snapped, but to my relief, the black energy subsided. He turned around, eyes immediately softened as he laid eyes on Bianca. Bianca took a few hesitant steps towards her father, but finally decided to take his hand. And for what would probably be the first and only time, I saw Hades smile.

"I will take her to the underworld and provide her with training." He stated to the rest of the gods. "She will be a true daughter of Hades." Hades then turned to me and extended his hand. "You have done well to save my daughter, sea spawn. I will give you my blessing, allowing you to walk freely in and out of the Underworld. You have my friendship." With that, he flashed out with Bianca in tow.

Poseidon looked over to Zeus, who still had his mouth hanging open in disbelief, and smirked. "Well… that went well." he said to me. I had to put a hand over my mouth to stop myself from grinning.

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Athena sighed. "Now, since _that _matter has been resolved, we still have to decide the sea sp-_Katniss' _fate."

Poseidon raised an eyebrow. "What is there to discuss, Bird Brains?" I stifled a giggle, while Annabeth looked like she was trying to decide whether to laugh or to frown.

Athena glared at Poseidon. "Your child is much too powerful! She is unpredictable and therefore dangerous! How do we know we can trust her?!"

Poseidon facepalmed: "Ah… here we go again. I think we already closed discussion on this issue in our previous arguments?"

Half an hour later, I think I was beginning to understand why Annabeth had tried to distance herself away from me during our first quest. Was this how our parents fought? They probably would have gone on arguing for some time, but they were suddenly all interrupted by Apollo, who shot up, his eyes glowing green for a few minutes, and started saying something in Greek, too fast for anyone to catch. After about thirty seconds, the fit stopped, and Apollo returned to normal. His face was uncharacteristically grim. "I must ask that all demigods except Katniss Everdeen leave the throne room now."

There were a lot of surprised mutterings and whispers, and quite a few protests by Thalia, Zoe and Annabeth, but they were all eventually ushered out and zapped right back into Camp Half-Blood. My heart started beating faster. Apollo had had a vision. Apparently it was secret enough to fit the standards of "for your eyes only". What was it?

Apollo walked to the centre of the Throne Room, breathing heavily, then started chanting in Greek, obviously a prophecy or something. He spoke so fast that even with all the training Annabeth had given me, I was only able to catch a few words. Wait…was it "middle earth" or "the centre of the earth"? _I am not going back down there to the darkness of the lava pits! _And if it was "middle earth", is there some place in the world called "up earth" and "down earth"? I couldn't make much sense of it, but I saw the other gods give gasps of surprise, fear and shock. Poseidon's face paled dramatically, and he got a faraway look in his eyes. I was starting to get frightened now. What was going on? Something told me I was _not _returning to Camp after this.

All the gods burst out in a quick, hurried discussion in Greek. My mind was swirling. I felt like yelling at them until they all stopped arguing and explain what Apollo had said, _in English!_ Finally, Apollo himself took pity on me and knelt before me, shrinking to human size and bringing our eyes to the same level. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Katniss, I had a vision of the titan's council. Kronos is determined to find you and kill you at all costs. He has already released all the worst monsters of Tartarus in search for you. He knows you will not abandon us, so his only choice is to kill you before the prophecy is fulfilled and try to corrupt Nico for his purposes. Nico can go to the Underworld, he will be well-protected there, but the issue we have right now, is you. He will stop at nothing to kill you, and so I fear that here may not be a safe place for you now." His voice was gentle, knowing how hard the news would be to take.

Oh. So I was now on the Titan Army's most wanted list. I didn't think it would be possible to feel any more afraid than what I had already been feeling. But boy, I was wrong. Earlier, it had just been anxiety and nervousness. Now, it was true blood-curdling fear. Sure, I had faced down a titan. Sure, I had killed tons of monsters. But with all of them working together, with the intention of having me for dinner…it probably was not good at all. "What do I do? Wait… you said… here may not be a safe place to hide anymore. Where am I supposed to go, then?"

"To another world!" Zeus boomed dramatically. Apollo rolled his eyes and went back to his throne, gesturing at Zeus for him to explain. Zeus cleared his throat again, as if he was afraid that somebody might ignore him. "Now listen well, Katniss Everdeen. This secret is a closely guarded secret that no demigod has ever been allowed to know." He leaned in and spoke in a stage whisper. "Other worlds, they exist. This world is called 'Middle Earth'. There are humans, just like here, but there are also a few other races. Occasionally, we, the gods would visit the land once in a while. Artemis, especially, loves to hunt in the forests there. We have all agreed that you will be sent there."

I just stared at him blankly. "Other worlds?" the concept was just too wacky to be true. If someone else other than the king of the gods had told me, I would have laughed in their faces and doused them in pond water to clear their minds up. Even now, I wouldn't have believed Zeus if the other gods hadn't seemed deadly serious, even my dad.

Zeus continued rambling. "Earth is now too dangerous for you to stay. We cannot risk losing you to the enemy, as you are the demigod of the prophecy. So we will send you to this other world for sanctuary. You will stay there for a year, and then return when you are a day from sixteen." Zeus gestured to Hermes, who flashed out, then returned a few seconds later with a two bags stuffed with all I had ever owned in Camp, plus another bag filled with basic supplies like ambrosia and nectar. There was also a very heavy bag that sounded suspiciously like it was full of drachmas. Finally, He brought Blackjack, who immediately cantered over and nuzzled me fondly.

I stepped back, deep in thought. "Oh…" then, looking around at all the packed stuff, I did a double take. "Wait, you mean now?!" All the gods nodded as one. I started to hyperventilate. "Wait, what about my friends? I need to say goodbye to them! I need to tell them where I'm going!"

Zeus shook his head. "I don't think you remember it, but didn't I already tell you that this information that other worlds exist must be kept secret?"He sat back and crossed his arms, indicating clearly that the discussion was over.

My father stepped off his throne and walked over to me. He handed me a small box. I opened it, and found a small metal device mounted on a bronze plate. It was connected to a small bronze bowl, which was in turn connected to a spray nozzle. It was painted blue and green, and there was a symbol of the trident inscribed on the bowl. On the bottom, there was the symbol of the maker. One simple letter, Eta, was neatly etched in the metal. I understood what it was: a rainbow maker, for contacting the gods. I turned the machine over in my hands. "Would this even _work _in the other world? I mean, do you get interference or anything?"

Hephaestus chuckled. "Normally, yes. But this is a secure connection for voice calls only. You cannot use it to contact camp, because there is always a possibility for spies among the demigod ranks. Oh, and you can only use this once a day. It needs time to cool down after every use."

I swallowed a lump in my throat. _Just like that? They're just sending me away like that? Not even giving me time to say goodbye?_ It was all happening to fast for me. _Had it really been yesterday when we fought at the entrance of the Labyrinth?_ Now it was only the afternoon of the second day, and I was already being sent to another world for an entire freaking year!

Meanwhile, the gods closed their eyes and spread out their hands. In front of Zeus' throne, a shimmering doorway began to appear. Beyond the doorway, there was a green forest, and the scent of the wild wafted out.

I gulped and took a deep breath. I strapped on my new armor, put my supplies on Blackjack's saddle, _(Hey, I am a Pegasus, not a mule!)_ and hugged my father. I took a deep breath, shouldered my quiver, grabbed my bow, and cordially bid all the gods in the council goodbye, even the ones I didn't like. As I turned to Lady Hestia, she took my hand and placed one of her hands on my forehead. In her gentle, calming voice, she spoke. "Katniss Everdeen. You are a rare hero who cares about family and friends. Where you are going, you will sometimes feel depressed, or hopeless. Hope is scarce in the world. I give you my blessing, therefore, to inspire hope among people. Bring the warmth and joy of family and friends with you. Fire is often a symbol of hope, is it not?" She smiled at me, and my entire body glowed temporarily. My body was suddenly wreathed in flames. For some reason, it didn't burn me, and as Lady Hestia was still holding my hand tightly, I didn't freak out. Good thing too, with so many gods watching me.

"Thank you, Lady Hestia." I smiled at her. I held up my hand and watched the fire dance over it. _Cool. Now I know why the bow had a fire design._

Hestia's gaze became stern. "But you must promise never to use my blessing for hostile purposes unless _absolutely necessary_. Is that clear?"

I nodded. "Perfectly, my lady, I swear it on the River Styx."

She smiled, satisfied, and enveloped me in a hug. "I wish you the best of luck in the other world, girl on fire."

"Yes, may the odds ever be in your favor…" smiled Artemis.

I glanced around the throne room one last time, and cast a longing glance at the doors, where I knew Annabeth and Thalia would be waiting for me to come out. Tears sprang into my eyes, but I didn't allow them to fall. I mounted Blackjack, who sent some comforting thoughts to me.

I spurred her on into a walk, and I rode straight through the portal.

I was in the forest now. I looked back, and saw the doorway rapidly folding on itself. In a few seconds, it winked out of existence.

"You must be Katniss Everdeen; we have been expecting you for a while." A male voice sounded. I instinctively twirled around, expecting to find monsters, yet was greeted with a middle-aged man. He had long, brown hair, a pair of eyebrows that probably resulted from raising his eyebrows too much, and a strangely-shaped crown around his head. He shook my hand, and flashed me a warm, fatherly smile. "Welcome to Rivendell, my dear. My name is Elrond."

**~To be continued~**

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**Oh yeah! The story has been completed and there has been over 1000 views! Are you guys as excited as I am? Leave a review, and tell me what you think!**


	16. Chapter 16 -SEQUEL ANNOUNCEMENT-

**Author's Notes:**

**This is to notify all of you that...**

***Drum Roll***

**THE SEQUEL TO THE STORY HAS ALREADY BEEN POSTED:**

_Tis not our fight!_

**ENJOY! AND GO CHECK IT OUT!**

**-Alone on the water-**


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